A person's house is a very private thing. It is a concept as well as a physical place. Some are cold in decor, while others have that welcoming feeling. A house usually gives an insight into the person who lives there. The question of whether a house is necessarily a home is up to the person living within, whether they imbue it with themselves and their values, use it as a temporary dump or just as a place to lay a head on a pillow at night.
A home can be a choice or a pre determined place meant to provide some kind of shelter. The place to go when things are difficult, or one needs to think and rest, or simply rejoin with those loved ones who share the house - the home. I believe that a house must be a home, for if not, the necessary refuge that a person needs to reenergize, to refresh and come out in fighting form again is not there.
That is one of the tragedies of the life of today for so many. With the population of homeless swelling, there is a lack of something in our society. We reject the homeless as unworthy, as lesser beings, as if they are all drunks, addicts, homeless through their own faults. We step over them or curse them as inconvenient to us.Well, yes, and no. Some are addicts of one kind or another. No doubt about that. But many are not and if we were to be honest, most of us realize that there but for the grace of G-d go we. Many of us live paycheck to paycheck and the statement that one needs to have so many thousands of dollars in banks as a safety cushion is just nonsense in reality for too many of us. One layoff, one disaster and homelessness becomes the norm for a formerly housed family.
Now think about other houses that you might have known. In which were the values good and solid? In which was there a warmth, a welcoming for others? Which were and are the homes one finds a constant gathering, a meeting place, filled with kids visiting friends and adults simply gathering to share in life with others.
Those are the homes we need more of, need to translate into governmental 'homes' for the people of the country. Think of the atmosphere of the national homes of our country. There is such tension, discord and disuntiy that many are not functioning the way they were meant to and we are suffering for that. We cannot trust the values keepers of these political homes for they have forgotten to whom and to what they owe loyalty. They have forgotten that real heroes are true to themselves, to their constituents, and are always ready to do the right thing. They have a responsibility to keep out the ogres of society, the outsider society who wish to bore into us and our values, take over the world as we know it and transform it into a place wherein there are no more homes to welcome us in, to shelter us from harsh conditions that can be avoided or ameliorated. This, unfortunately, is the world we are headed into, actually, there right now.
A tweeting base for a madman. A yes place where adults who should know better kowtow to that same madman. A home where the original occupants, the people of the nation, are unwelcome, where the new occupants forget the true responsibilities and obligations they owe to the people and instead declare loyalty to a man rather than to a nation. A home where the original family is so divided that the individuals do not converse with each other, much to the detriment of the family.
Our nation's home is broken. We have enemies of the nation hacking, literally and figuratively, into our lives, our business, personal and public. We have the President of the country welcoming them in instead of fighting them off. He has forgotten the job he has, the job he took on - and no, not the plan to enrich himself and his buddies, but to serve the people, to uphold the Constitution, to keep our home safe and intact.
When we forget the right way, when we forget to build our homes for longevity and the right path, strong enough to withstand clamor and discord, lacking in mercy, we then have TV shows such as the new Party of Five where the heartbreak of deportation, the whole rotten system is exposed for the huge wrong thing that it is, the ugly consequences of it all
Today I am beginning to think that we must turn to another House, one that has good values, morality, warmth, and welcome. It is a House of mercy, a virtue we are sorely lacking these days. That House is mentioned many times and here is one reference from Psalms.
"Because of Your great mercy, I come to Your House."
No need even to believe, just emulate the rightness of it all, the necessity of mercy in life and living. If not, well that next tornado might be heading for you with all the alarms ignored and silent.
Tuesday, January 14, 2020
Monday, January 13, 2020
HUMPTY DUMPTY? FLY AWAY?
I have been wondering lately which of the title choices is the better one to choose. There are days when the whole idea of flying away sounds tempting, just getting away from it all, leaving this riven and driven country back in the dust, but then again, I must pause to think. Is there indeed any place which is beyond the impact of this country, immune to the inane and destructive moves of Trump? The answer is no, most emphatically so and that is why we are in such a state of despair.
Yesterday I watched Mike Kelly give forth a rabid and inane speech telling us all what a wonderful and strong president we now have and I nearly choked. Strong? He is a bully and those are the weakest of the world, for they know how little they are worth, how wrong they generally are, how much harm they do with their thoughtless behaviors and actions. What was most frightening though, was the rabidity of the speech, its tone, its voice level. Have we totally lost our minds, totally capitulated to this madness?
I wonder if this will be similar to 1945 Germany when after defeat, every German denied being a Nazi, always the other guy and never mind the hypnotized behavior of shouts and trumpets, of blood and gore, of hateful sentiments shouted and awful actions taken. I wonder how history will judge people such as Kelly, or McConnell, or Collins, or Graham, or any of those who have consigned their souls to hell and to the list of villains and enablers of even worse villains throughout history? Not a proud legacy at all.
Meanwhile senior administrators are left holding the ball again, as usual, as Trump makes false and out of nowhere remarks, saying he knew there was a plot to bomb embassies in four countries even as his Defense people deny it. This is serious stuff as crazy as it is. Too much harm has been done throughout history by false reports, false statements upon which countries relied to go to war. Fly away? To where? How?
So, to the other choice. Humpty Dumpty. Can we put together this country of ours once more and make it whole? I could care less should the Demented One implode from his fast food and gassy blowhard talk, but what about the country of ours, left alone on that precarious perch on the wall, shaking with poor balance, teetering back and forth, seeing no one down there on the ground who is willing to catch us, soften the fall and its results? Nope, no one there. We are all alone and will have to take the step oursleves, gird our loins, as the Bible says,and just do it!!
How can we possibly still have people who believe this man and his lies that have arisen to bite him back time and time again. How can evangelicals support this most godless of man?How can any minority support this man and his hateful, putrid mind and thoughts? How can any woman support this man who demeans women with every breath he takes and every word he speaks? How can any man suppose himself to be a patriotic American and see this man shred the very fabric of our lives, of our country, who perverts every principle of our great nation? How? I simply cannot understand it, even as he ravages the environment, ignoring the effects in our country and in poor Australia. How can we support a man who is bellicose, bellowing all the day long through his poor overused fingers, and all the while saying nothing of value, only of more danger to us, as a people and as a nation?
One choice is a lovely thought, just leaving it all behind, but there is no way to do that on a permanent basis. The other choice is ugly, despairing, troubled, but that, I am afraid is the choice we are left with. We need to put our country back again, seal all the cracks in Humpty Dumpty, get rid of all those who would place him back again on that destructive wall. Vote them out. Imprison where deserved including a true and realistic trial of the worst one at the head of it all. Help being our country back to sansity. And soon. That poor thing on the wall is shaking badly.
Yesterday I watched Mike Kelly give forth a rabid and inane speech telling us all what a wonderful and strong president we now have and I nearly choked. Strong? He is a bully and those are the weakest of the world, for they know how little they are worth, how wrong they generally are, how much harm they do with their thoughtless behaviors and actions. What was most frightening though, was the rabidity of the speech, its tone, its voice level. Have we totally lost our minds, totally capitulated to this madness?
I wonder if this will be similar to 1945 Germany when after defeat, every German denied being a Nazi, always the other guy and never mind the hypnotized behavior of shouts and trumpets, of blood and gore, of hateful sentiments shouted and awful actions taken. I wonder how history will judge people such as Kelly, or McConnell, or Collins, or Graham, or any of those who have consigned their souls to hell and to the list of villains and enablers of even worse villains throughout history? Not a proud legacy at all.
Meanwhile senior administrators are left holding the ball again, as usual, as Trump makes false and out of nowhere remarks, saying he knew there was a plot to bomb embassies in four countries even as his Defense people deny it. This is serious stuff as crazy as it is. Too much harm has been done throughout history by false reports, false statements upon which countries relied to go to war. Fly away? To where? How?
So, to the other choice. Humpty Dumpty. Can we put together this country of ours once more and make it whole? I could care less should the Demented One implode from his fast food and gassy blowhard talk, but what about the country of ours, left alone on that precarious perch on the wall, shaking with poor balance, teetering back and forth, seeing no one down there on the ground who is willing to catch us, soften the fall and its results? Nope, no one there. We are all alone and will have to take the step oursleves, gird our loins, as the Bible says,and just do it!!
How can we possibly still have people who believe this man and his lies that have arisen to bite him back time and time again. How can evangelicals support this most godless of man?How can any minority support this man and his hateful, putrid mind and thoughts? How can any woman support this man who demeans women with every breath he takes and every word he speaks? How can any man suppose himself to be a patriotic American and see this man shred the very fabric of our lives, of our country, who perverts every principle of our great nation? How? I simply cannot understand it, even as he ravages the environment, ignoring the effects in our country and in poor Australia. How can we support a man who is bellicose, bellowing all the day long through his poor overused fingers, and all the while saying nothing of value, only of more danger to us, as a people and as a nation?
One choice is a lovely thought, just leaving it all behind, but there is no way to do that on a permanent basis. The other choice is ugly, despairing, troubled, but that, I am afraid is the choice we are left with. We need to put our country back again, seal all the cracks in Humpty Dumpty, get rid of all those who would place him back again on that destructive wall. Vote them out. Imprison where deserved including a true and realistic trial of the worst one at the head of it all. Help being our country back to sansity. And soon. That poor thing on the wall is shaking badly.
Sunday, January 12, 2020
FEAR, COURAGE, AND RAGE
"Let us go forth with fear and courage and rage to save the world." (Sylvia Paley)
Perhaps we need to acknowledge that there is a great deal of fear in the world. People are afraid of the rapidly changing environment, with new ecological disasters showing up every day. They are afraid due to the sudden turnaround of the USA in its new path, seemingly headed towards both chaos and dictatorship. They are afraid because as we look around, there is no place to go no place to hide, no place to avoid consequences. And they are afraid as ugly and angry prejudices rise to the top of the ever growing swamps in so many countries.
But that fear must make us stronger. A hero is one who has fear, knows fear, knows the outcomes that are possible, yet goes into the fray, be it physical or one of doctrines, strides in with that courage, often unexpected courage. We need so many courageous people today, yet where are they?
They are certainly not within our government, aside from certain Democrats who are sticking to their guns. Others have ceded grounds to hatred, a la Omar and Tlaib. Some have run tail between the legs to vote with Trump so their seat remains "safe" or so they think. As for the Republicans, there appears to be not one single decent and courageous one amongst them, other than Amash, who left the Party. The rest are worthless as they vote against their own inner feelings and beliefs, in fear of the Demented One, and running for their seats. But why do those who say they are done, who have resigned or will leave, why do they continue to vote party line like good little soldiers. Are they following orders - and have we not been there before? We are in vastly short supply of courage today.
But there is one more emotion that must come into play. It will arise from those with the fear and the courage. It will arise from those who have decent human instincts, those who know we can and MUST do better if we are to survive in a very existential manner - and a decent manner as well. It will come from those whose rage has boiled at a low temperature, yet is now rising, as the fuel for this rage is growing by leaps and bounds.
These emotions will cause them to rage through the world, to take down governments, to lose patience with those in the wrong, with the oppressors, with the cruel, with those who would destroy hope, destroy our very physical and basic need for living - an earth, healthy, with the ability to heal all the wounds we have inflicted upon her. This rage will be strong and have some bad results, but people are getting desperate.
We are already seeing rage. Look at Hong Kong. Look at Taiwan. Look at countries of eastern Europe who are upset with their new governments that resemble the former ones, just with different names. People are tired of injustice masquerading as justice, in very warped form.
Yet we are so lacking in appropriate responses. Look at the Demented One and the harm that he has caused in his definitely insane path and behavior. He tweets now to Iran that "the whole world is watching". Well, yes, fool, Captain Bone Spurs, who now uses a slogan from the anti Vietnam War crowd, yes, the whole world is watching and they are watching you as well. They are watching how we have left the brave protesters of Hong Kong alone, all alone in their brave and long period of protest and demonstration, so yes,the world is watching. It is watching how we swing back and forth, like a toddler trying to decide whether to eat that candy now or save it, changing his mind on an hourly basis and ranting around the whole thing, blaming it on others and demanding another piece of candy so he can have it all! In the meanwhile, the tantrum rolls though the house and destruction follows. Yes, the whole world is certainly watching.
There is an old proverb which states that, "The clock ticks at home, as it ticks nowhere else." Our clock is ticking so loud that we are almost overwhelmed by it. Truly, if the hands of the Midnight Clock would be true tothe truth, the hands would read one minute before midnight. We do not alway agree with the clock and the time it tells us. That is fine, if we remember, somewhere, deep down, that the clock is running,whether we like it or not.
Combine that with this statement by Marcus Aurelius. "Do every act of your life as though it were the very last act of your life." The words of inspiration are there. The situations that demand action, that cry out for reform are there. We have but to heed the call, see the fear, see the awful things we have done to the earth and to people, and then get that courage to the sticking point and rage through the world with rage, use the laws for the good of all, rather than the few and let us return to a path of hope, of progress, rather than return to bad times, to times of violence, to self destruction. The clock is ticking, faster and faster.
Perhaps we need to acknowledge that there is a great deal of fear in the world. People are afraid of the rapidly changing environment, with new ecological disasters showing up every day. They are afraid due to the sudden turnaround of the USA in its new path, seemingly headed towards both chaos and dictatorship. They are afraid because as we look around, there is no place to go no place to hide, no place to avoid consequences. And they are afraid as ugly and angry prejudices rise to the top of the ever growing swamps in so many countries.
But that fear must make us stronger. A hero is one who has fear, knows fear, knows the outcomes that are possible, yet goes into the fray, be it physical or one of doctrines, strides in with that courage, often unexpected courage. We need so many courageous people today, yet where are they?
They are certainly not within our government, aside from certain Democrats who are sticking to their guns. Others have ceded grounds to hatred, a la Omar and Tlaib. Some have run tail between the legs to vote with Trump so their seat remains "safe" or so they think. As for the Republicans, there appears to be not one single decent and courageous one amongst them, other than Amash, who left the Party. The rest are worthless as they vote against their own inner feelings and beliefs, in fear of the Demented One, and running for their seats. But why do those who say they are done, who have resigned or will leave, why do they continue to vote party line like good little soldiers. Are they following orders - and have we not been there before? We are in vastly short supply of courage today.
But there is one more emotion that must come into play. It will arise from those with the fear and the courage. It will arise from those who have decent human instincts, those who know we can and MUST do better if we are to survive in a very existential manner - and a decent manner as well. It will come from those whose rage has boiled at a low temperature, yet is now rising, as the fuel for this rage is growing by leaps and bounds.
These emotions will cause them to rage through the world, to take down governments, to lose patience with those in the wrong, with the oppressors, with the cruel, with those who would destroy hope, destroy our very physical and basic need for living - an earth, healthy, with the ability to heal all the wounds we have inflicted upon her. This rage will be strong and have some bad results, but people are getting desperate.
We are already seeing rage. Look at Hong Kong. Look at Taiwan. Look at countries of eastern Europe who are upset with their new governments that resemble the former ones, just with different names. People are tired of injustice masquerading as justice, in very warped form.
Yet we are so lacking in appropriate responses. Look at the Demented One and the harm that he has caused in his definitely insane path and behavior. He tweets now to Iran that "the whole world is watching". Well, yes, fool, Captain Bone Spurs, who now uses a slogan from the anti Vietnam War crowd, yes, the whole world is watching and they are watching you as well. They are watching how we have left the brave protesters of Hong Kong alone, all alone in their brave and long period of protest and demonstration, so yes,the world is watching. It is watching how we swing back and forth, like a toddler trying to decide whether to eat that candy now or save it, changing his mind on an hourly basis and ranting around the whole thing, blaming it on others and demanding another piece of candy so he can have it all! In the meanwhile, the tantrum rolls though the house and destruction follows. Yes, the whole world is certainly watching.
There is an old proverb which states that, "The clock ticks at home, as it ticks nowhere else." Our clock is ticking so loud that we are almost overwhelmed by it. Truly, if the hands of the Midnight Clock would be true tothe truth, the hands would read one minute before midnight. We do not alway agree with the clock and the time it tells us. That is fine, if we remember, somewhere, deep down, that the clock is running,whether we like it or not.
Combine that with this statement by Marcus Aurelius. "Do every act of your life as though it were the very last act of your life." The words of inspiration are there. The situations that demand action, that cry out for reform are there. We have but to heed the call, see the fear, see the awful things we have done to the earth and to people, and then get that courage to the sticking point and rage through the world with rage, use the laws for the good of all, rather than the few and let us return to a path of hope, of progress, rather than return to bad times, to times of violence, to self destruction. The clock is ticking, faster and faster.
Friday, January 10, 2020
TAKING THE NATION'S TEMPERATURE
The nation is running hot and cold and everything inbetween. We have heard and seen the hot fever of extremists, on both sides of issues, and the terrible results that come from this fever, especially on the part of the right. We have seen the coldness that has overtaken the hearts and souls of people who are no longer open to hearing from anyone else, their minds closed off, frozen in ice.
People are more blustery, given to hallucinations backed up or instigated by false claims, ridiculous claims, put out there by nefarious characters and backed by people in high places, people who have much to gain from disinformation. Of catastrophic level, we have those who have been burned by such high fevers that their minds are not working properly and they have lost sight of their morals, of the teachings of their parents, of the rules of civilized behavior.
From whence came this physical and mental debilitation? From whence came these bacteria which have so affected the soul of America and Americans, so much so that we have willingly given up so much of what makes us America and even what makes countries part of a progressive grouping or not. Why has this fever, running hot and cold, burning and freezing us at the same time, been so destructive? Why have we allowed it to be so?
We have lost our way. We have lost our immunity to selfishness, to greed, to lies that flow out of mouths with tongues so forked that they almost need two mouths to accommodate it. We shout and scream with inner pain, with inner foolishness, with inner confusion and then when shown how wrong we were, we sort of gloss over the whole thing. Prime example: Trump et al have been trying to filthy up Hillary Clinton, going so far as to interfere with the election, call her names and malign her as a criminal. They instituted a DOJ investigation which just closed up shop and found NADA!!! Will Trump blast that about? No way, for he will find other lies, being the chief source of infected bacteria to the body politic.
This inner sickness of the heart and soul of America has raised its ugly head all over. People are ruder. People cannot partake of a tradition of talking politics in America, for no longer is it possible to do so and remain sane and controlled. So fiercely has this disease, this fever, affected us so much has it driven deep inroads into both sides. The mood is somber and frenzied at the same time.
Suffice it to say that we must rid ourselves of this fever, of these attitudes imposed upon us by those who wish to redo, undo, America and recreate it in their own image, a copy of dictatorships of real life and fiction, none any good for its people.
This fever must go and its chief source and enforcers must go as well. Americans need to wake up, take stock of their health as a people, as a country, as human beings and decide which is the way of the future for America. What country do they want for their children?
It will not be easy, for much damage has already been done, some with a tinge of permanency, of long term damage. But nothing good comes easy and we must find the spirit of the pioneers,the spirit of the colonists who declared independence, the spirit and energies of the immigrants who built this country. I truly believe that if we do not overcome this illness of body and mind, that we will go down as the biggest and most unnecessary loss of greatness, of hope, of the future that ever was. Our choice, but the time to make the right choice is narrowing quickly.
People are more blustery, given to hallucinations backed up or instigated by false claims, ridiculous claims, put out there by nefarious characters and backed by people in high places, people who have much to gain from disinformation. Of catastrophic level, we have those who have been burned by such high fevers that their minds are not working properly and they have lost sight of their morals, of the teachings of their parents, of the rules of civilized behavior.
From whence came this physical and mental debilitation? From whence came these bacteria which have so affected the soul of America and Americans, so much so that we have willingly given up so much of what makes us America and even what makes countries part of a progressive grouping or not. Why has this fever, running hot and cold, burning and freezing us at the same time, been so destructive? Why have we allowed it to be so?
We have lost our way. We have lost our immunity to selfishness, to greed, to lies that flow out of mouths with tongues so forked that they almost need two mouths to accommodate it. We shout and scream with inner pain, with inner foolishness, with inner confusion and then when shown how wrong we were, we sort of gloss over the whole thing. Prime example: Trump et al have been trying to filthy up Hillary Clinton, going so far as to interfere with the election, call her names and malign her as a criminal. They instituted a DOJ investigation which just closed up shop and found NADA!!! Will Trump blast that about? No way, for he will find other lies, being the chief source of infected bacteria to the body politic.
This inner sickness of the heart and soul of America has raised its ugly head all over. People are ruder. People cannot partake of a tradition of talking politics in America, for no longer is it possible to do so and remain sane and controlled. So fiercely has this disease, this fever, affected us so much has it driven deep inroads into both sides. The mood is somber and frenzied at the same time.
Suffice it to say that we must rid ourselves of this fever, of these attitudes imposed upon us by those who wish to redo, undo, America and recreate it in their own image, a copy of dictatorships of real life and fiction, none any good for its people.
This fever must go and its chief source and enforcers must go as well. Americans need to wake up, take stock of their health as a people, as a country, as human beings and decide which is the way of the future for America. What country do they want for their children?
It will not be easy, for much damage has already been done, some with a tinge of permanency, of long term damage. But nothing good comes easy and we must find the spirit of the pioneers,the spirit of the colonists who declared independence, the spirit and energies of the immigrants who built this country. I truly believe that if we do not overcome this illness of body and mind, that we will go down as the biggest and most unnecessary loss of greatness, of hope, of the future that ever was. Our choice, but the time to make the right choice is narrowing quickly.
Thursday, January 9, 2020
attention please
Travel day tomorrow so posting will be a bit later in the morning. Sorry for any inconvenience.
AIN'T IT THE TRUTH!!
Well, no, actually it is not, or rather it is a twisted, lacking version of the truth and all involved hope that the audience is stupid enough to be rolled right over, believing all they hear, no matter the truth of that matter.
I am so tired of hearing lies spew forth from the mouths of the national level of government that I almost automatically turn my ears off when they start their eruptions. War. Attacks. False media. Lies, lies, lies, and the continuation of such. Shredding of the Constitution. Erosion of our three branch government. The rumble of our past presidents rolling over in their respective graves as this president rips at the fabric of America. I am just so tired of it all.
And yet, and yet, we cannot turn away from the truth, from the nasty odors emanating from our supposed representatives in DC and in every state. Truth becomes lies, falsehoods presented as truth. Name calling is the soup d'jour and illiteracy almost a constant in the speech and writing, if it can be called that, by Trump.
Our latest was a walk on the thin edge of nuclear war with the "enemy' proving to be the wiser and the more temperate side in this issue. They are the ones who sent a constant series of messages to the USA after our assasssination of Soleimani. They are the ones who took the time to think about a response that sent a message, yet did not send a war. The idiot in the White House was the one who shot, literally shot, from the hip, from the vacuum in his head,and his nuts were pulled from the fire by the "enemy'. Says something, does it not. Will we hear it?
As McConnell rumbles with Pelosi, the alleged criminal guy remains there in the Ooval Office, scarfing down his burgers and sending out his poisonous tweets. The government of the country is at a standstill, with only negative emerging - rollbacks of safety legislation, money being cut from social safety net programs, persecution of immigrants, roundups, crooks in the offices of government, cronyism galore and what the hell is Ivanka doing at an international conference or speaking at a meeting of CES, a techie group. She knows as much as I do about this and should not have been a keynote speaker. Truly! If it were not so sad and so representational of the misworking of this administration, I would laugh. The saddest part of today's posting is the next part.
I guess one cannot run from bad government or a certain lack of truth, can one? I just finished watching a "speach" by David Israel urging his reelection to continue a 10 year dictatorship during which we have had major problems here within the Village. It has become almost as divided as the country. People are tired of the same old tired people, recycled into and onto every committee. The editor of The Rag boasted, mind you, of not only having that position but also of being on FIVE other committees. FIVE!!!! All the while UCO 'begs' for people to come, volunteer. What they do not say is that one must kowtow to the President here if one is to get appointed to a committee or do anything of note within the Village. Opponents are villified, trash talked, and denigrated at a level that would compare with that of Trump. I simply do not understand why it is that people do not recognize their sell by date and graciously retire from that position yet remain at other posts there. Thus their experience is utilized even as fresh air, new blood, new ideas are forthcoming with energies on the rise.
I guess it is that some people simply cannot let things go, or have nothing else in life to sustain them. Even as David did some good things, introducing the increased use of computers within the Village, he lies about other items. The information he says is there for all, well, do not believe that or you can buy several bridges and tunnels!! Requests for information are answered as freely and completely as are the requests for witnesses and documents from the White House. And that ain't good, to say the least.
Now we first hear of this Supervisor Group which evidently would take over some duties from WPRF. What does that entail exactly? Only he and his fellow conspirators know. What will be WPRF's role within the Village? How does this work financially? Who is on the Supervision Board? The same old same old? Why has there not been any prior information re this idea, a presentation at the Assembly or Executive Board, a yes saying adjunct to his rule?
Why is the list of officers of Boards available only to David in his run for Dictator for Life? Why are the other candidates for all offices not given the same opportunity and information? Why are outside agencies called in, for things even not in our Village, in order to defame, decry, and eliminate candidates? Why have we not moved forward on a Village wide plan to set up an alert system should a shooter or other nogoodnick enter the Village? Where are we moving forward or rather how, when we sign a 10 year contract with Atlantic Broadband in a world where advances and changes are made almost on a daily basis and ten years is more than a lifetime, and this for a company that is still in its training pants!!
So yes, has David done some good? Yes, but at present, the slack, the lack, the negative is overwhelming it all. We need to move forward with fresh people or resign ourselves to being left behind, becoming a backwater of retirement living, a place where no one will wish to come unless desperate. I love this place. I love the friends, the amenities in and around it. I love my unit. But I do not love the direction in which this place is going.
Quite frankly, we need to change our government population. Officials need to be rotated out. Fuller transparency, or rather complete transparency must be in place. We need an Ombudsman to argue for the people. And yes, Donald is great and does a wonderful job, always available, but there are other things that need their own 'Donald' and that is just not happening. When month after month VPs are asked to report and they say NTR - nothing to report - well, then, what the hell are they doing there in the UCO building!! That is why things must change.
Government of the people, by the people and for the people means exactly that. Let us make it so.
I am so tired of hearing lies spew forth from the mouths of the national level of government that I almost automatically turn my ears off when they start their eruptions. War. Attacks. False media. Lies, lies, lies, and the continuation of such. Shredding of the Constitution. Erosion of our three branch government. The rumble of our past presidents rolling over in their respective graves as this president rips at the fabric of America. I am just so tired of it all.
And yet, and yet, we cannot turn away from the truth, from the nasty odors emanating from our supposed representatives in DC and in every state. Truth becomes lies, falsehoods presented as truth. Name calling is the soup d'jour and illiteracy almost a constant in the speech and writing, if it can be called that, by Trump.
Our latest was a walk on the thin edge of nuclear war with the "enemy' proving to be the wiser and the more temperate side in this issue. They are the ones who sent a constant series of messages to the USA after our assasssination of Soleimani. They are the ones who took the time to think about a response that sent a message, yet did not send a war. The idiot in the White House was the one who shot, literally shot, from the hip, from the vacuum in his head,and his nuts were pulled from the fire by the "enemy'. Says something, does it not. Will we hear it?
As McConnell rumbles with Pelosi, the alleged criminal guy remains there in the Ooval Office, scarfing down his burgers and sending out his poisonous tweets. The government of the country is at a standstill, with only negative emerging - rollbacks of safety legislation, money being cut from social safety net programs, persecution of immigrants, roundups, crooks in the offices of government, cronyism galore and what the hell is Ivanka doing at an international conference or speaking at a meeting of CES, a techie group. She knows as much as I do about this and should not have been a keynote speaker. Truly! If it were not so sad and so representational of the misworking of this administration, I would laugh. The saddest part of today's posting is the next part.
I guess one cannot run from bad government or a certain lack of truth, can one? I just finished watching a "speach" by David Israel urging his reelection to continue a 10 year dictatorship during which we have had major problems here within the Village. It has become almost as divided as the country. People are tired of the same old tired people, recycled into and onto every committee. The editor of The Rag boasted, mind you, of not only having that position but also of being on FIVE other committees. FIVE!!!! All the while UCO 'begs' for people to come, volunteer. What they do not say is that one must kowtow to the President here if one is to get appointed to a committee or do anything of note within the Village. Opponents are villified, trash talked, and denigrated at a level that would compare with that of Trump. I simply do not understand why it is that people do not recognize their sell by date and graciously retire from that position yet remain at other posts there. Thus their experience is utilized even as fresh air, new blood, new ideas are forthcoming with energies on the rise.
I guess it is that some people simply cannot let things go, or have nothing else in life to sustain them. Even as David did some good things, introducing the increased use of computers within the Village, he lies about other items. The information he says is there for all, well, do not believe that or you can buy several bridges and tunnels!! Requests for information are answered as freely and completely as are the requests for witnesses and documents from the White House. And that ain't good, to say the least.
Now we first hear of this Supervisor Group which evidently would take over some duties from WPRF. What does that entail exactly? Only he and his fellow conspirators know. What will be WPRF's role within the Village? How does this work financially? Who is on the Supervision Board? The same old same old? Why has there not been any prior information re this idea, a presentation at the Assembly or Executive Board, a yes saying adjunct to his rule?
Why is the list of officers of Boards available only to David in his run for Dictator for Life? Why are the other candidates for all offices not given the same opportunity and information? Why are outside agencies called in, for things even not in our Village, in order to defame, decry, and eliminate candidates? Why have we not moved forward on a Village wide plan to set up an alert system should a shooter or other nogoodnick enter the Village? Where are we moving forward or rather how, when we sign a 10 year contract with Atlantic Broadband in a world where advances and changes are made almost on a daily basis and ten years is more than a lifetime, and this for a company that is still in its training pants!!
So yes, has David done some good? Yes, but at present, the slack, the lack, the negative is overwhelming it all. We need to move forward with fresh people or resign ourselves to being left behind, becoming a backwater of retirement living, a place where no one will wish to come unless desperate. I love this place. I love the friends, the amenities in and around it. I love my unit. But I do not love the direction in which this place is going.
Quite frankly, we need to change our government population. Officials need to be rotated out. Fuller transparency, or rather complete transparency must be in place. We need an Ombudsman to argue for the people. And yes, Donald is great and does a wonderful job, always available, but there are other things that need their own 'Donald' and that is just not happening. When month after month VPs are asked to report and they say NTR - nothing to report - well, then, what the hell are they doing there in the UCO building!! That is why things must change.
Government of the people, by the people and for the people means exactly that. Let us make it so.
Wednesday, January 8, 2020
YOICKS!!!! TURNIPS, CABBAGES, AND DUNDERHEADS
We have a national kitchen garden at the White House, but lately all it seems to grow are turnips and cabbages, while crisp veggies go by the board. No, not literally, but actually, literally enough. What indeed have we been growing in DC and is any of it digestible in the nation's digestive system? Sorry to say, I believe not!!
Turnips and cabbage are the most tasteless of vegetables unless seasoned with something else, but when a bunch of dunderheads are running the show, forget abut improving our national diet. These turnips and cabbages are among the most tasteless of vegetables in oh so many ways.
Of course, we have the Chief Turnip. The man has no functioning brain other than the most primitive brain stem functions. His permanent status is always lead with your chin, always, and always fight - as long as it is someone else doing the fighting and not him. And again, we have the phenomena of a bunch of cabbages, wilted and just about useless, voting - oh, wait, did I say voting! How silly of me! Ripping up the crispest veggies we have in our nation and sending them off to be chopped, to be sent home in fancy flag draped wood boxes, and nothing will have been accomplished other than the shedding of more blood, more loss for our nation and the world, for the world is also at a stage of mortal danger now as well as us.
No, "all is not well" as the turnip stated yesterday. The bland and almost useless turnip used the death of an American contractor as his springboard to the biggest impeachment diversion ever, and lookie here! The American contractor was one of those dirty and spicy veggies we need to add to turnips and cabbages, for he was, shhhhh, an immigrant born in Iraq, and a naturalized citizen of our country. Aha!! So it seems that immigrants are acceptable, what, only in their deaths! Bad agricultural planning here!
A chief cabbage called a Lindsay Graham cabbage, states that there is now an act of war. He is correct. We have assassinated a creep, a terrorist, but he was a member of a government, a near head of government, and we are supposed to be out of the business of killing leaders we do not like. If it were about nasty veggies ruining the garden, well, there are many of them out there yet no one proposed killing them. So what is the difference here? Soleimani has proven to be just the diversion the turnip and his cabbage army needed to save his ass from impeachment conviction. Shut down Bolton, who will provide transparency. Shut down the absolutely necessary testimony of Chief Turnip, and start the campaign to smear all against this dangerous behavior with the taint of being anti American, anti patriotism. Are we forgetting that the 'act of war' as Graham Cabbage swears by, the missile attack on two bases where American troops are, remember, that attack was precipitated by our attack, by threats of war crime activities on our part, or rather the part of the Turnip and his Cabbages, and that nation responded, whether our Chief Turnip liked it or not. We did the first act of war. We did!! Just like in Vietnam with a false report of an attack on a ship of ours in Tonkin Bay. Are we to go back to those days of fewer gardens, fewer crisp and bright veggies for the nation, and too much going at a steep cost and loss? NO, I hope not,for this war would be one that starts out bordering on nuclear options with two crazed leaders, turnips and cabbages, at the helm, with itchy fingers, infected and infested with kitchen garden grubs.
Let us not forget the dunderhead of the title. There he is - McConnell, of the Senate, the power hungry, corrupt, lost his way cabbage, who joins the rest of the dunderheads, defined as a "stupid person" by the dictionary and here are a few other synonyms for that name.idiot · ass · halfwit · nincompoop · blockhead · buffoon · dunce · dolt · ignoramus · cretin · imbecile · dullard · moron · simpleton · clod · dope · ninny · chump · dimwit · nitwit · goon · dumbo · dummy · dum-dum · dumbbell · loon · jackass · bonehead ·
It seems that we are in a bad agricultural stage here, and poor planning of the garden, poor agrarian practices, wasteful use of garden equipment and hands to continue the gardening have brought us to this point. Dunderheads all. Dangers to us all, led by the Chief Turnip and his cabbage government, aided by the chief Dunderhead and his minor dunderheads of the Senate who have the ability to destroy the garden in its entirety, leaving our nation with a Turnip Dictator and a crushing of democracy, the best fertilizer for this garden and for us as a country, for the world at large.
So, anyone for gardening? Anyone for tearing out the ueless veggies, sending them away from the swamp they have created, bring on new gardeners, ones with sense, with taste, with promise of better garden for us all? It can be done, the laws are there, if we only had a brain, as the scarecrow stated, if we only used the brains we do have already.
"For G-d's sake, let us sit upon the ground
And tell sad stories of the deaths of kings."
William Shakespeare, Richard II
Poor leaders have been pulled out before. We do not need the violence of the Richard II derooting, for we have laws upon our side, but we do need to change our leaders ASAP, be it now, hopefully, but not realistically what with the cabbages of the Senate, but 2020 elections are fast approaching and anyone, anything, is better than the Turnip now in office, now running the garden, planting only more turnips, more cabbages, installing more dunderheads as garden aides, and crushing the American dream.
Yoicks indeed!!
Turnips and cabbage are the most tasteless of vegetables unless seasoned with something else, but when a bunch of dunderheads are running the show, forget abut improving our national diet. These turnips and cabbages are among the most tasteless of vegetables in oh so many ways.
Of course, we have the Chief Turnip. The man has no functioning brain other than the most primitive brain stem functions. His permanent status is always lead with your chin, always, and always fight - as long as it is someone else doing the fighting and not him. And again, we have the phenomena of a bunch of cabbages, wilted and just about useless, voting - oh, wait, did I say voting! How silly of me! Ripping up the crispest veggies we have in our nation and sending them off to be chopped, to be sent home in fancy flag draped wood boxes, and nothing will have been accomplished other than the shedding of more blood, more loss for our nation and the world, for the world is also at a stage of mortal danger now as well as us.
No, "all is not well" as the turnip stated yesterday. The bland and almost useless turnip used the death of an American contractor as his springboard to the biggest impeachment diversion ever, and lookie here! The American contractor was one of those dirty and spicy veggies we need to add to turnips and cabbages, for he was, shhhhh, an immigrant born in Iraq, and a naturalized citizen of our country. Aha!! So it seems that immigrants are acceptable, what, only in their deaths! Bad agricultural planning here!
A chief cabbage called a Lindsay Graham cabbage, states that there is now an act of war. He is correct. We have assassinated a creep, a terrorist, but he was a member of a government, a near head of government, and we are supposed to be out of the business of killing leaders we do not like. If it were about nasty veggies ruining the garden, well, there are many of them out there yet no one proposed killing them. So what is the difference here? Soleimani has proven to be just the diversion the turnip and his cabbage army needed to save his ass from impeachment conviction. Shut down Bolton, who will provide transparency. Shut down the absolutely necessary testimony of Chief Turnip, and start the campaign to smear all against this dangerous behavior with the taint of being anti American, anti patriotism. Are we forgetting that the 'act of war' as Graham Cabbage swears by, the missile attack on two bases where American troops are, remember, that attack was precipitated by our attack, by threats of war crime activities on our part, or rather the part of the Turnip and his Cabbages, and that nation responded, whether our Chief Turnip liked it or not. We did the first act of war. We did!! Just like in Vietnam with a false report of an attack on a ship of ours in Tonkin Bay. Are we to go back to those days of fewer gardens, fewer crisp and bright veggies for the nation, and too much going at a steep cost and loss? NO, I hope not,for this war would be one that starts out bordering on nuclear options with two crazed leaders, turnips and cabbages, at the helm, with itchy fingers, infected and infested with kitchen garden grubs.
Let us not forget the dunderhead of the title. There he is - McConnell, of the Senate, the power hungry, corrupt, lost his way cabbage, who joins the rest of the dunderheads, defined as a "stupid person" by the dictionary and here are a few other synonyms for that name.idiot · ass · halfwit · nincompoop · blockhead · buffoon · dunce · dolt · ignoramus · cretin · imbecile · dullard · moron · simpleton · clod · dope · ninny · chump · dimwit · nitwit · goon · dumbo · dummy · dum-dum · dumbbell · loon · jackass · bonehead ·
It seems that we are in a bad agricultural stage here, and poor planning of the garden, poor agrarian practices, wasteful use of garden equipment and hands to continue the gardening have brought us to this point. Dunderheads all. Dangers to us all, led by the Chief Turnip and his cabbage government, aided by the chief Dunderhead and his minor dunderheads of the Senate who have the ability to destroy the garden in its entirety, leaving our nation with a Turnip Dictator and a crushing of democracy, the best fertilizer for this garden and for us as a country, for the world at large.
So, anyone for gardening? Anyone for tearing out the ueless veggies, sending them away from the swamp they have created, bring on new gardeners, ones with sense, with taste, with promise of better garden for us all? It can be done, the laws are there, if we only had a brain, as the scarecrow stated, if we only used the brains we do have already.
"For G-d's sake, let us sit upon the ground
And tell sad stories of the deaths of kings."
William Shakespeare, Richard II
Poor leaders have been pulled out before. We do not need the violence of the Richard II derooting, for we have laws upon our side, but we do need to change our leaders ASAP, be it now, hopefully, but not realistically what with the cabbages of the Senate, but 2020 elections are fast approaching and anyone, anything, is better than the Turnip now in office, now running the garden, planting only more turnips, more cabbages, installing more dunderheads as garden aides, and crushing the American dream.
Yoicks indeed!!
Tuesday, January 7, 2020
LOST IN SPACE
Where are we? Who are we? Have we lost our way somewhere dense, thicketed with thorns and nettles, surrounded by wild animas, with hope seemingly lost somewhere? Is there no OnStar to rescue us with a warm and helpful voice? Does anyone even want to rescue us in the midst of latest developments, or is it too frightening to even imagine such an attempt? Where, oh where, is the brave equivalent of Captain Kirk who will intone, "Make it so" and we will speed off into safety after having a great fix of the problems besetting us? We then will not be lost in space anymore.
But there is no more Captain of the Enterprise or its equivalent right now. In fact, it appears to be that the acting Defense Secretary and some saner voices in the Armed Services are the only barriers between us and who the hell knows. The Demented One might shout and bluster, but Esper says it is a no go on bombing cultural sites, no going against the laws of war, as oxymoronic as that seems. All those threats and bluster did was to cause the Iranians to draw up their own equivalent site vs. deaths of their own, and the mathematics was not great, needless to say.
Not surprisingly, our allies, whom we have kicked to the curb numerous times already, whose leaders rightfully detest and have only contempt for Trump, want no part of his attack or his threats and have made that very clear. Perhaps we will not see the dominoes falling this time around, but even if that were to be the case, nuclear war would involve all anyway, so what the hell! Still lost in space. OnStar will not call.
Nor will the primary stopgaps of the country. The same people who shouted and screamed at Obama for "war" acts, are now the people who are supporting Trump, saying any criticism of Trump now is only a political game, political shenanigans. Guess who yet? Yes, the same Meadows and the same rest of the contemptible lackeys who have long ago lost their value as humans, as independent thinkers, and only serve now as rubber stamps, yesmen to Demented One.
As for us - hell, no one thinks of us, do they? We apparently are along for the ride with or without our consent, and when we do get stopped, oh, perhaps they will take our DNA against our will as they are doing with immigrants at the border now. Or hey, here's another possibility. Perhaps we will all have to dig down and find where our ancestors came from, or whitewash any ethnic sounding names, or perhaps we should be realistic and expect newer, larger detention camps, as we are now starting to question all Iranian looking people or with Iranian sounding names, detaining them at the border, causing little ones to cry as they think that they, too, will be "in jail" - for that is what it is - and their mommys and daddys will be no place around, certainly not with them. Have we turned back into the detainers of peple who differ from the supposed "norm", locking them up - even citizines - eventually reaching Japanese detention numbers?!
All around us swirl and orbit other dangerous satellites and phenomena. Australia burns, even as people are arrested for purposeful or careless arson. China reports yet another awful and dangerous disease, this one possibly emerging from a market where all sorts of live creatures, large and small, are sold. Perhaps yet another gift of animals to humans, another disease like SARS, all the better to kill us, to perhaps gain revenge for what we have done to them and rebalance the world!! Stranger things have happened, and remember, we are now out there in the great void of space, lost in space and who knows the new rules of survival anymore? We seem to have trashed it all on our journey to nowhere.
Will we become the remains of a once upon civilization which destroyed itself? Shall we become part of the junk orbiting the earth, clogging space as we even trash that huge area, once pristine area, safe from human harm and detritus? Where the hell are we and where are we going to go from here? Is there even anywhere to go, now that we have lost OnStar, Waze seems to have shut down, GPS is dead, and we have destroyed all the old fashioned paper maps of yesteryear so our last hope of routes out of here are going, going, gone.
So sing out loud and clear, Bonnie Tyler. Sing of the hero we need now. Sing of the knight who seems to have met his/her demise as there has been no sighting in recent years. Sing with that powerful voice and perhaps someone, somewhere, will hear us and come to our rescue. Perhaps we will hear that honeyed tone of the lady of OnStar who will reassure us that help is on the way and she will remain with us until it arrives.We hope. We pray.
But there is no more Captain of the Enterprise or its equivalent right now. In fact, it appears to be that the acting Defense Secretary and some saner voices in the Armed Services are the only barriers between us and who the hell knows. The Demented One might shout and bluster, but Esper says it is a no go on bombing cultural sites, no going against the laws of war, as oxymoronic as that seems. All those threats and bluster did was to cause the Iranians to draw up their own equivalent site vs. deaths of their own, and the mathematics was not great, needless to say.
Not surprisingly, our allies, whom we have kicked to the curb numerous times already, whose leaders rightfully detest and have only contempt for Trump, want no part of his attack or his threats and have made that very clear. Perhaps we will not see the dominoes falling this time around, but even if that were to be the case, nuclear war would involve all anyway, so what the hell! Still lost in space. OnStar will not call.
Nor will the primary stopgaps of the country. The same people who shouted and screamed at Obama for "war" acts, are now the people who are supporting Trump, saying any criticism of Trump now is only a political game, political shenanigans. Guess who yet? Yes, the same Meadows and the same rest of the contemptible lackeys who have long ago lost their value as humans, as independent thinkers, and only serve now as rubber stamps, yesmen to Demented One.
As for us - hell, no one thinks of us, do they? We apparently are along for the ride with or without our consent, and when we do get stopped, oh, perhaps they will take our DNA against our will as they are doing with immigrants at the border now. Or hey, here's another possibility. Perhaps we will all have to dig down and find where our ancestors came from, or whitewash any ethnic sounding names, or perhaps we should be realistic and expect newer, larger detention camps, as we are now starting to question all Iranian looking people or with Iranian sounding names, detaining them at the border, causing little ones to cry as they think that they, too, will be "in jail" - for that is what it is - and their mommys and daddys will be no place around, certainly not with them. Have we turned back into the detainers of peple who differ from the supposed "norm", locking them up - even citizines - eventually reaching Japanese detention numbers?!
All around us swirl and orbit other dangerous satellites and phenomena. Australia burns, even as people are arrested for purposeful or careless arson. China reports yet another awful and dangerous disease, this one possibly emerging from a market where all sorts of live creatures, large and small, are sold. Perhaps yet another gift of animals to humans, another disease like SARS, all the better to kill us, to perhaps gain revenge for what we have done to them and rebalance the world!! Stranger things have happened, and remember, we are now out there in the great void of space, lost in space and who knows the new rules of survival anymore? We seem to have trashed it all on our journey to nowhere.
Will we become the remains of a once upon civilization which destroyed itself? Shall we become part of the junk orbiting the earth, clogging space as we even trash that huge area, once pristine area, safe from human harm and detritus? Where the hell are we and where are we going to go from here? Is there even anywhere to go, now that we have lost OnStar, Waze seems to have shut down, GPS is dead, and we have destroyed all the old fashioned paper maps of yesteryear so our last hope of routes out of here are going, going, gone.
So sing out loud and clear, Bonnie Tyler. Sing of the hero we need now. Sing of the knight who seems to have met his/her demise as there has been no sighting in recent years. Sing with that powerful voice and perhaps someone, somewhere, will hear us and come to our rescue. Perhaps we will hear that honeyed tone of the lady of OnStar who will reassure us that help is on the way and she will remain with us until it arrives.We hope. We pray.
Monday, January 6, 2020
AND SO IT GOES AND SO IT DOES NOT
And here we are again. Anyone hear the echoes of the start of WWI, the stupidity and rigidity that opened it and the stupidity, rigidity and greed that insured a WWII? If you do not, then let me help you draw the lines and understand the mess we are in.
Trump, in his infinite stupidity and incompetence, in seconds spared from his party planning, decided to assassinate a leader of a country. Suleimani was such a person and this was the equivalence of shooting a Putin or a Kim or an Orban or an Auk - just take your pick. Mildly put, that will not happen, our blunders in trying to do the same to Castro kind of put us out of that aspect of the spy business. Imagine if someone would have come along and shot up, blast out of existence, our Joint Chief of Staff. Last time we declared war in return for a horrendous attack on our country, and rightfully so, we descended into an almost 20 year war with no result other than the deaths of so many and the wounding of so many more. Nothing.
Nothing has been resolved or bettered by this endless war. A second generation is now engaged in that war and what have we gained? Nothing but more troubles. Once again we refused to listen to history and fought a war as incompetently as we did in Vietnam, both countries enmiring us in a needless war, a lengthy war which gave us nothing of value other than gaining some industrious immigrants - oops, a dirty word in today's political vernacular.
And the cascading begins. Archduke Ferdinand, the heir to the throne of Austria, was killed by an assassin bent on revenge and a desire for his own country as nationalism struck. The countries involved in alliances then fell one by one into declaring war and the world was engaged in a great war that never ended. Instead of talk, we had war. Instead of life, we had death. And continue to have death. Instead of spending money, energy, time and brains on bettering humanity, we spent it on armaments, enriching the military industry.
The unsolved problems of nationalism remained unsolved as stupid decisions were made in declaring borders. Germany was ripped asunder, leaving her no way to rebuild a civilian and democratic country, thus paving the way for a Hitler to rise to power and the horrendous deaths that ensued. Now, just think of today's issues.
We have an idiot who thinks life is a bunch of tweets. Tweets are enough to notify Congress of a declaration or intent of war. Civilian targets are hereby okayed. Escalation is announced in a braggadacio manner, just what the highly volatile Iranians needed to hear to set them off even more. No talking, because no one can believe this man and his mouth and all he has left around him are sycophants,lackeys, and more incompetence, more strivers who want to prove how right wing they are. Their heads are so far up his ass that they speak within a deep void. All that is heard is the hatred, the anger, the lack of knowledge, the lack of compassion, the lack of understanding how to handle disagreements, not just remaining in the schoolyard bully situation and behavior.
The reflexed responses and threats have begun. The pace and level of threats are increasing as is the danger of nuclear war as both sides are headed by morons with itchy fingers and a could care less attitude towards their populations. The leaders will be ensconced in safety nests while we, the people, well, we will be hiding under desks, standing against walls, as if all that will help survive in nuclear holocausts. We will be the new shadows of once humans on the walls of civilization joining those of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
For a man who said we are disentangling from the world, we have messed more with it and in it than before - and in a moronic and dangerous manner. Those of you who say he is the best thing for Israel, well, he has just thrown it under the bus, several busses, as she remains the target of choice and distance, a target which can have thousands upon thousands of missiles rained down upon her and her people, as hundreds of thousands of Arabs and Moslems from surrounding countries pour in to finish the job. And there ya go!! Best thing indeed.
So, we now have our once and former allies who have complete contempt for Trump, left in the lurch and all deciding what to do. I do not know that at this point anyone will have a choice or will be able to stop the rolling snowball of death, any more than in 1914. That is unless we do something drastic. It would be well done if the Senate, instead of finding ways in which to further cut their own power and destroy our democracy, would find ways to open their hearts and minds, regain some balls, some morals, some sense of self respect and remove this man from office. Now. Immediately. ASAP. If not, well. let us see how we maneuver ourselves out of this mess _ if we can. If it can be done.
And so it goes. And so it does not.
Trump, in his infinite stupidity and incompetence, in seconds spared from his party planning, decided to assassinate a leader of a country. Suleimani was such a person and this was the equivalence of shooting a Putin or a Kim or an Orban or an Auk - just take your pick. Mildly put, that will not happen, our blunders in trying to do the same to Castro kind of put us out of that aspect of the spy business. Imagine if someone would have come along and shot up, blast out of existence, our Joint Chief of Staff. Last time we declared war in return for a horrendous attack on our country, and rightfully so, we descended into an almost 20 year war with no result other than the deaths of so many and the wounding of so many more. Nothing.
Nothing has been resolved or bettered by this endless war. A second generation is now engaged in that war and what have we gained? Nothing but more troubles. Once again we refused to listen to history and fought a war as incompetently as we did in Vietnam, both countries enmiring us in a needless war, a lengthy war which gave us nothing of value other than gaining some industrious immigrants - oops, a dirty word in today's political vernacular.
And the cascading begins. Archduke Ferdinand, the heir to the throne of Austria, was killed by an assassin bent on revenge and a desire for his own country as nationalism struck. The countries involved in alliances then fell one by one into declaring war and the world was engaged in a great war that never ended. Instead of talk, we had war. Instead of life, we had death. And continue to have death. Instead of spending money, energy, time and brains on bettering humanity, we spent it on armaments, enriching the military industry.
The unsolved problems of nationalism remained unsolved as stupid decisions were made in declaring borders. Germany was ripped asunder, leaving her no way to rebuild a civilian and democratic country, thus paving the way for a Hitler to rise to power and the horrendous deaths that ensued. Now, just think of today's issues.
We have an idiot who thinks life is a bunch of tweets. Tweets are enough to notify Congress of a declaration or intent of war. Civilian targets are hereby okayed. Escalation is announced in a braggadacio manner, just what the highly volatile Iranians needed to hear to set them off even more. No talking, because no one can believe this man and his mouth and all he has left around him are sycophants,lackeys, and more incompetence, more strivers who want to prove how right wing they are. Their heads are so far up his ass that they speak within a deep void. All that is heard is the hatred, the anger, the lack of knowledge, the lack of compassion, the lack of understanding how to handle disagreements, not just remaining in the schoolyard bully situation and behavior.
The reflexed responses and threats have begun. The pace and level of threats are increasing as is the danger of nuclear war as both sides are headed by morons with itchy fingers and a could care less attitude towards their populations. The leaders will be ensconced in safety nests while we, the people, well, we will be hiding under desks, standing against walls, as if all that will help survive in nuclear holocausts. We will be the new shadows of once humans on the walls of civilization joining those of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
For a man who said we are disentangling from the world, we have messed more with it and in it than before - and in a moronic and dangerous manner. Those of you who say he is the best thing for Israel, well, he has just thrown it under the bus, several busses, as she remains the target of choice and distance, a target which can have thousands upon thousands of missiles rained down upon her and her people, as hundreds of thousands of Arabs and Moslems from surrounding countries pour in to finish the job. And there ya go!! Best thing indeed.
So, we now have our once and former allies who have complete contempt for Trump, left in the lurch and all deciding what to do. I do not know that at this point anyone will have a choice or will be able to stop the rolling snowball of death, any more than in 1914. That is unless we do something drastic. It would be well done if the Senate, instead of finding ways in which to further cut their own power and destroy our democracy, would find ways to open their hearts and minds, regain some balls, some morals, some sense of self respect and remove this man from office. Now. Immediately. ASAP. If not, well. let us see how we maneuver ourselves out of this mess _ if we can. If it can be done.
And so it goes. And so it does not.
Sunday, January 5, 2020
52 FIFTY TWO 52 FIFTY TWO
Those numbers and letters should be rolling around in your mind, threatening your very sanity. What, you ask, is the significance? Harmlessly, they are the number of the weeks in a year,but woe upon us, for here this is not the point. The Madman of Washington, the Monster in the White House, he, Captain Bone Spurs, has made a decision, as usual a bad one, and has placed us all in a real mess. A mess with blood staining it throughout.
After blustering and wavering all over the place for three years, for threatening and never coming through, for making a damned fool of himself and a mockery of the country, Trump decided to act. Act without permission of Congress as is supposed to be done. Without informing the leadership of the House and Senate, only the ever increasingly demented lackey, Lindsay Graham.
He struck and killed Suleimani, admittedly a bad person and the director of a policy definitely inimical to the USA. However, a huge however, former Presidents , one of whom had caused the capture and killing of Bin Laden, both decided that his death by American hands, certainly in a big manner, would lead to more problems, bloody, literally bloody, problems for us. Yet there he went, this ass, this clear and present danger to the country. Any which way you look at it.
Where does 52 come in? The man boasts, boasts, mind you, that he has picked out 52 sites of Iran and Iraq which have cultural significance. Cultural!!!! What the hell happened to rules of engagement? What happened to Geneva Conventions? What happened to decency in harsh times? What happened to running a conflict via soldiers, not civilians? Or are we planning to wage war a la Assad, a la Russia, a la Malaysia, a la any and all countries which wage war on civilians? Are we going to have the bombings of London, of Coventry, of Dresden, of Aleppo, and on and on and on, to replicate itself now, again? Are we going to have more 9/11 attacks? 52 times. Fifty two times that we attack civilian targets?
For a man who has stated and tweeted and bellowed so many times that he is going to bring the troops home, bring them back, we are now sending over 3500 more soldiers to Iran and that is only the beginning. We are going for an outright war with a country that has no compunctions about terrorism and has allies crazier than they are. Are we expected to stand by and watch the closest target, Israel, as proxy for America, be bombed almost out of existence, with civilians paying the bloody and awful price as missiles rain down upon the cities and towns of the country? What have we allowed to happen? Why have we allowed this? Why?
Yes, Iran is a country of Moslem extremists. Yes, it is a country which has sponsored terrorism. But it is also a country that has suffered under sanctions; they were working, there was progress, despite all the hot air out of the mouths of their leader and ours. But now? Now the people are united against the big bad bully of America. Now two traditional enemies, Iran and Iraq, are united against America. And that threat of 52 screams danger, peril, in a high shrieking tone.
So the protests begin. The man who has violated so many rules, broken so many laws, is now breaking even more to place our country, our population, in an existential danger. There apparently will be no rules in this war and remember who will pay heavy prices indeed. Who will be crying and screaming, terrified, homeless, refugees in their own country - and I mean US!!!
Yes, there are dreadful times that demand that a war be waged, but this is not one of them, certainly not. We have caused this by stupidity, by lack of coordination, by a man who makes a tragic decision like this in less time than it takes him to chew a bite of hamburger and then returned to his party planning activities and his golf dates. This is not right. Never could be. The man is now not only a criminal in the courts of the land by his actions, but is also going to be declared a war criminal !!! Yes, and still the President of this country?!
As for us, will the Selective Service Sysem, the draft boards, the draft iself, be reinstated? And remember, folks, gender equality and we will be sending our daughters off to war along with our sons. But make ya a bet - no Trump will see war other than in the uniform of an appointed general in the backlands of war!!! All the better to ramp up the destruction we are plannning to wreak upon the world, courtesy of Mr. 52 planned hits on civilian targets, on the history of the world, on ignoring miltary targets, on defending the homeland, on dealing with angered former allies, with the deaths of so many all over the world, with the rising anti Semitism that will ramp up even more as Israel and Jews get blamed for this, and all caused by a demented failure of a man who somehow convinced enough people into voting for him. Shame on us!! We truly get the government we deserved, did we not!
So here we are again. Back to war protests, to demonstrations, to flag draped coffins coming home in ever increasing numbers, to an even larger divide of the country. Will we see all the old pros of the 60's back on the protest lines? Will we once again fear a shooting of students on campus? Are we going to spit on the poor soldiers, drafted into war through no want of their own? Are we going to see military rule of the country, a dissolving of the civilian government, the long term aim of that man in DC?
No, do not think the trouble ends after the 52nd attack, for this is a war that can engulf the entire world, drag it into the flames of war, heating the air too hot to breathe, a war such as we will never have seen before. A war which could drastically change, alter, the very fabric of the earth and our civilization. Shatter it totally, as insane people drag us into the halls of nuclear weapons and their use. 52? No, disaster!!
After blustering and wavering all over the place for three years, for threatening and never coming through, for making a damned fool of himself and a mockery of the country, Trump decided to act. Act without permission of Congress as is supposed to be done. Without informing the leadership of the House and Senate, only the ever increasingly demented lackey, Lindsay Graham.
He struck and killed Suleimani, admittedly a bad person and the director of a policy definitely inimical to the USA. However, a huge however, former Presidents , one of whom had caused the capture and killing of Bin Laden, both decided that his death by American hands, certainly in a big manner, would lead to more problems, bloody, literally bloody, problems for us. Yet there he went, this ass, this clear and present danger to the country. Any which way you look at it.
Where does 52 come in? The man boasts, boasts, mind you, that he has picked out 52 sites of Iran and Iraq which have cultural significance. Cultural!!!! What the hell happened to rules of engagement? What happened to Geneva Conventions? What happened to decency in harsh times? What happened to running a conflict via soldiers, not civilians? Or are we planning to wage war a la Assad, a la Russia, a la Malaysia, a la any and all countries which wage war on civilians? Are we going to have the bombings of London, of Coventry, of Dresden, of Aleppo, and on and on and on, to replicate itself now, again? Are we going to have more 9/11 attacks? 52 times. Fifty two times that we attack civilian targets?
For a man who has stated and tweeted and bellowed so many times that he is going to bring the troops home, bring them back, we are now sending over 3500 more soldiers to Iran and that is only the beginning. We are going for an outright war with a country that has no compunctions about terrorism and has allies crazier than they are. Are we expected to stand by and watch the closest target, Israel, as proxy for America, be bombed almost out of existence, with civilians paying the bloody and awful price as missiles rain down upon the cities and towns of the country? What have we allowed to happen? Why have we allowed this? Why?
Yes, Iran is a country of Moslem extremists. Yes, it is a country which has sponsored terrorism. But it is also a country that has suffered under sanctions; they were working, there was progress, despite all the hot air out of the mouths of their leader and ours. But now? Now the people are united against the big bad bully of America. Now two traditional enemies, Iran and Iraq, are united against America. And that threat of 52 screams danger, peril, in a high shrieking tone.
So the protests begin. The man who has violated so many rules, broken so many laws, is now breaking even more to place our country, our population, in an existential danger. There apparently will be no rules in this war and remember who will pay heavy prices indeed. Who will be crying and screaming, terrified, homeless, refugees in their own country - and I mean US!!!
Yes, there are dreadful times that demand that a war be waged, but this is not one of them, certainly not. We have caused this by stupidity, by lack of coordination, by a man who makes a tragic decision like this in less time than it takes him to chew a bite of hamburger and then returned to his party planning activities and his golf dates. This is not right. Never could be. The man is now not only a criminal in the courts of the land by his actions, but is also going to be declared a war criminal !!! Yes, and still the President of this country?!
As for us, will the Selective Service Sysem, the draft boards, the draft iself, be reinstated? And remember, folks, gender equality and we will be sending our daughters off to war along with our sons. But make ya a bet - no Trump will see war other than in the uniform of an appointed general in the backlands of war!!! All the better to ramp up the destruction we are plannning to wreak upon the world, courtesy of Mr. 52 planned hits on civilian targets, on the history of the world, on ignoring miltary targets, on defending the homeland, on dealing with angered former allies, with the deaths of so many all over the world, with the rising anti Semitism that will ramp up even more as Israel and Jews get blamed for this, and all caused by a demented failure of a man who somehow convinced enough people into voting for him. Shame on us!! We truly get the government we deserved, did we not!
So here we are again. Back to war protests, to demonstrations, to flag draped coffins coming home in ever increasing numbers, to an even larger divide of the country. Will we see all the old pros of the 60's back on the protest lines? Will we once again fear a shooting of students on campus? Are we going to spit on the poor soldiers, drafted into war through no want of their own? Are we going to see military rule of the country, a dissolving of the civilian government, the long term aim of that man in DC?
No, do not think the trouble ends after the 52nd attack, for this is a war that can engulf the entire world, drag it into the flames of war, heating the air too hot to breathe, a war such as we will never have seen before. A war which could drastically change, alter, the very fabric of the earth and our civilization. Shatter it totally, as insane people drag us into the halls of nuclear weapons and their use. 52? No, disaster!!
Friday, January 3, 2020
GARBAGE AND GRAVITY
It is well known that bad stuff flows ever downwards, overwhelming all in its path.The filth in the rivers flow downstream. The corruption of an administration flows downwards until it is rife within all ranks. The garbage of life is not something to be ignored, for if it is, it will make itself known in a more drastic manner.
But gravity has another meaning other than the one related to the pull of a force in a downward manner. It also means a seriousness of an issue. Unfortunately, in today's world we seem to have lost the sense and understanding of the place these two things - garbage and gravity - have in our lives, much to our detriment.
Garbage is not just the rank odor it emanates. It is also the reek of loss. Loss of freedom. Loss of tolerance. Loss of dignity. Loss of brotherhood. Loss of a healthy society and a turn towards dystopia, a broken and dangerous world. It is a loss of personal dignty and an abdication of our responsibility to clean and fix the world in as many ways as possible.
The worst thing about garbage and the ever pull of gravity downward, as it mounts over all, hides the truth under ever growing heaps of trash, is that we are never done. We are never done with the effort to expose the truth, for as we excavate each layer, we find yet another, right there, in the muck, adding itself to that garbage.
Will we ever be done exposing the garbage of Trump et al? We uncover the Ukrainian mess and find that there is so much more and as more and more documents are revealed, unredacted, the garbage of his administration, himself and the people within, just keep mounting. Will this land fill ever be done? I doubt it, for it seems endless.
Worse than that is the fact, true and dangerous, horrible as it is, is the fact that this man is himself human trash. "...prideful, arrogant and abrasive..." yet evangelicals vote for him and when some reveal a distress about this, they are shunned, abused, denigrrated, all in the mode of the chief trash, Trump. People have fallen into an idolatrous mode, for that is what it is, no denying it. Nothing else make any sense when otherwise sane and decent people follow and believe his every false world, okay the tampering of truth a la the recent edited for hate video with Biden and his own everyday stream of trash emanating from a diseased mind in a bloated body.
A Republican has termed his own party as one which now stands for all things wrong, for all things immoral as others say. The GOP Senators concentrate on hiding and denying the truth, even as the facts emerge in ever growing amounts. The attempts of theirs to decline part in hearings, to block witnesses and documents and then decry the process because these things were not there? Cake and ingestion, anyone?
The echo of words from the past, from other presidents in our history ring out loud and clear, yet Trump and Trumpers do not hear. "Now we are engaged in a great Civil War......" Well, it has started already as the division has grown so deep and so wide that it is a question whether it can ever be overcome. Are we doomed to see families and friends split apart, united only in the blood being spilled as we try to mend ourselves and the ugly rift we have grown?
Washington warned us of foreign interference in our government, and yet here we have the President inviting them in!!!! We do not have to wait for FDR to accuse another country of inciting a "day of infamy" for we have done that to ourselves, with the infamy stretching through years, perhaps even decades what with the tampering with of our judicial system.
We posted a carved invitation to the world's troubled and oppressed people, yet today we are incarcerating children, ripping apart families, making a deadly mockery of one of the proudest things about being an American. And we have allowed the evil tiger out of its cage, swollen with hunger for blood, with hate for all who opppose him on his hunt for power and food, and the blood spilt on our land grows ever deeper and wider.
Beware if you are a Jew. Beware if you are of color. We have been warned that the Jews are the canaries of the mines, only in this case, of society. Once the bloodlust begins with them, there is no stopping the rest. I have repeatedly stated that and now others are writing about it. Wish I would have been wrong, but that is not the case here.
We need to go out and dig deep, find the truth, the unity, the decency, the morals and ethics, the attempts to always progress, in the right direction, to right the wrongs, to be our own nation of Don Quixotes, never giving up the tilting at windmills, and meeting with success often enough.
Enough with the trash. Enough with the lies. We need morality, values, true pride and patriotism, a true union of ALL Americans, a loyalty to our nation rather than to a political party and a character. Woe upon us if we do not fix this and NOW. Woe upon us.
But gravity has another meaning other than the one related to the pull of a force in a downward manner. It also means a seriousness of an issue. Unfortunately, in today's world we seem to have lost the sense and understanding of the place these two things - garbage and gravity - have in our lives, much to our detriment.
Garbage is not just the rank odor it emanates. It is also the reek of loss. Loss of freedom. Loss of tolerance. Loss of dignity. Loss of brotherhood. Loss of a healthy society and a turn towards dystopia, a broken and dangerous world. It is a loss of personal dignty and an abdication of our responsibility to clean and fix the world in as many ways as possible.
The worst thing about garbage and the ever pull of gravity downward, as it mounts over all, hides the truth under ever growing heaps of trash, is that we are never done. We are never done with the effort to expose the truth, for as we excavate each layer, we find yet another, right there, in the muck, adding itself to that garbage.
Will we ever be done exposing the garbage of Trump et al? We uncover the Ukrainian mess and find that there is so much more and as more and more documents are revealed, unredacted, the garbage of his administration, himself and the people within, just keep mounting. Will this land fill ever be done? I doubt it, for it seems endless.
Worse than that is the fact, true and dangerous, horrible as it is, is the fact that this man is himself human trash. "...prideful, arrogant and abrasive..." yet evangelicals vote for him and when some reveal a distress about this, they are shunned, abused, denigrrated, all in the mode of the chief trash, Trump. People have fallen into an idolatrous mode, for that is what it is, no denying it. Nothing else make any sense when otherwise sane and decent people follow and believe his every false world, okay the tampering of truth a la the recent edited for hate video with Biden and his own everyday stream of trash emanating from a diseased mind in a bloated body.
A Republican has termed his own party as one which now stands for all things wrong, for all things immoral as others say. The GOP Senators concentrate on hiding and denying the truth, even as the facts emerge in ever growing amounts. The attempts of theirs to decline part in hearings, to block witnesses and documents and then decry the process because these things were not there? Cake and ingestion, anyone?
The echo of words from the past, from other presidents in our history ring out loud and clear, yet Trump and Trumpers do not hear. "Now we are engaged in a great Civil War......" Well, it has started already as the division has grown so deep and so wide that it is a question whether it can ever be overcome. Are we doomed to see families and friends split apart, united only in the blood being spilled as we try to mend ourselves and the ugly rift we have grown?
Washington warned us of foreign interference in our government, and yet here we have the President inviting them in!!!! We do not have to wait for FDR to accuse another country of inciting a "day of infamy" for we have done that to ourselves, with the infamy stretching through years, perhaps even decades what with the tampering with of our judicial system.
We posted a carved invitation to the world's troubled and oppressed people, yet today we are incarcerating children, ripping apart families, making a deadly mockery of one of the proudest things about being an American. And we have allowed the evil tiger out of its cage, swollen with hunger for blood, with hate for all who opppose him on his hunt for power and food, and the blood spilt on our land grows ever deeper and wider.
Beware if you are a Jew. Beware if you are of color. We have been warned that the Jews are the canaries of the mines, only in this case, of society. Once the bloodlust begins with them, there is no stopping the rest. I have repeatedly stated that and now others are writing about it. Wish I would have been wrong, but that is not the case here.
We need to go out and dig deep, find the truth, the unity, the decency, the morals and ethics, the attempts to always progress, in the right direction, to right the wrongs, to be our own nation of Don Quixotes, never giving up the tilting at windmills, and meeting with success often enough.
Enough with the trash. Enough with the lies. We need morality, values, true pride and patriotism, a true union of ALL Americans, a loyalty to our nation rather than to a political party and a character. Woe upon us if we do not fix this and NOW. Woe upon us.
Thursday, January 2, 2020
TUMBLEGEDDON
Weird things going on out there, especially in the western part of the country. Scary things too. Apparently, in Colorado, at night, there are squadrons of large drones, in formation, flying around, hovering over homes, and if you can dredge up the scenes from various series and movies then you will remember the drones, always there, always spying, and always shooting. So what gives? Apparently no one knows or no one is admitting to what is going on nor taking responsibility or ownership of these flying missions. Eerie and scary.
Then we have the attack of nature upon us. No, not the calamitous fires that speak of a hell on earth. And no, not the weird weather phenomena around the nation and the world. Nope, this is an almost personal attack, Nature on Man, and is right out of a King novel. Giant tumbleweeds, the kind you see rolling down deserted streets in ghost towns, only a helluva lot bigger, rolled onto a highway in Oregon and shut it down!! Yup, you read it right. They buried cars, drivers having to be dug out, first discovering where their cars were, and even a semi was buried by them. Now if that does not make the top ten of nightmares - but in real life - then I give up!!!
Last nite, as I tossed and turned, a nightmare kept returning, ramping up anxiety and finally destroying any attempt at sleep. I wanted no more of those dreams, or rather that one dream that kept coming back, picking up where it had left off. Israel was being attacked, on all sides, from all borders. The skies were thick with missiles, hitting civilian areas, too many to be shot down, and the deaths were mounting. The army, caught short, had to catch up and it simply was not happening and then, the shouts, the screams, as the Iranian Republican National Guard came overland via Egypt, through Sinai, into the small communities of the Negev,and slaughtered all, from young to old, men, women, children. They left behind scorched earth. The blood was flowing and the Israelis were overwhelmed.
The crowds of refugees thronged the beaches, awaiting the fulfillment of the threat to throw them into the sea. Children were fighting with rocks against huge tanks and missiles, against growwn men just shooting them down, mowing them down. Every time I woke up, gasping, I tried to stay awake, but inevitably found myself back in the midst of this nightmare, one that is not really so far off possibility.
The world? You ask where they were? Well, they were busily pontificating re the slaughter and attacks on Jews in their own countries, doing effectively nothing, and then the shouts - no refugees, no more, not Jews, not parasites, the history of the world in capsulated form and modern times, only it felt like the Dark Ages and the heat of the flames of past and present fires overwhelmed the air, even as the agonized cries of Jews around the world, their pleadings for intervention, for refuge, for aid, as their protests grew in size and then violence as desperation rose - well, I wrenched myself out of this nightmare and then began to wonder how real was it? How likely is it?
So should I comfort myself in stories about tumbleweeds and nod my head with sagacity as I confirm my thoughts about Nature turning upon Man? But then I read another story about mounting anti Semitism, violent in form, rife with virulent hatred, and I cannot lie to myself. Bad times are coming. No, let me correct that, bad times are here. To stay? Lord, but I hope not, but someone, somewhere, give me a sign, a signal of hope, of showing me how the tumbleweeds of G-d will fall upon these people wherever they spout their poison, and the world will return to some form of sanity. Give me hope that yet another Jewish state in the Land of Israel, our ancestral homeland, will not fall, that progress will not be thrown backwards in violent heaves.
What I do know for sure is that there is a rising fear in the Jewish communities of this country and around the world. In the past few days I have spoken with, and heard from many, who are frightened such that they have never been before. Survivors and their children speakof similarities, of the growing violence, and fear the inevitable growth line of this horrendous infection unless it is stopped. And again. Who will do the stopping? Will, in fact, there be anyone who will do the stopping, care to do that, take it on? Right now, not too optimistic about that.
Tumbleweeds, formations of threatening drones, and nightmares fleshing out in vile turns and twists of reality. Sleep disappearing, its refuge gone missing there as well. Does it even end? Why must it be a dark and constant line of blood running through the centuries? Why can we not all realize that we are more alike than not, created by the same Creator, out of the same human clay, with the same needs and desires. I feel as if I am living the torments of Macbeth and wife as they, too, cannot sleep, albeit they murdered someone and I am trying to hope and pray that the bloodshed stop. Now! Forever.
Dear Lord, I need to sleep. I need to at least find comfort and refuge in my dreams. Mankind cannot long continue on in these circumstances. You promised never to destroy us with water ever again, but there is no safeguard against us destroying ourselves, in a maelstrom of blood and violence, of destruction of the very planet we inhabit. We are the tumbleweeds of our own destruction, the harbingers of a sad future. Unless....
Then we have the attack of nature upon us. No, not the calamitous fires that speak of a hell on earth. And no, not the weird weather phenomena around the nation and the world. Nope, this is an almost personal attack, Nature on Man, and is right out of a King novel. Giant tumbleweeds, the kind you see rolling down deserted streets in ghost towns, only a helluva lot bigger, rolled onto a highway in Oregon and shut it down!! Yup, you read it right. They buried cars, drivers having to be dug out, first discovering where their cars were, and even a semi was buried by them. Now if that does not make the top ten of nightmares - but in real life - then I give up!!!
Last nite, as I tossed and turned, a nightmare kept returning, ramping up anxiety and finally destroying any attempt at sleep. I wanted no more of those dreams, or rather that one dream that kept coming back, picking up where it had left off. Israel was being attacked, on all sides, from all borders. The skies were thick with missiles, hitting civilian areas, too many to be shot down, and the deaths were mounting. The army, caught short, had to catch up and it simply was not happening and then, the shouts, the screams, as the Iranian Republican National Guard came overland via Egypt, through Sinai, into the small communities of the Negev,and slaughtered all, from young to old, men, women, children. They left behind scorched earth. The blood was flowing and the Israelis were overwhelmed.
The crowds of refugees thronged the beaches, awaiting the fulfillment of the threat to throw them into the sea. Children were fighting with rocks against huge tanks and missiles, against growwn men just shooting them down, mowing them down. Every time I woke up, gasping, I tried to stay awake, but inevitably found myself back in the midst of this nightmare, one that is not really so far off possibility.
The world? You ask where they were? Well, they were busily pontificating re the slaughter and attacks on Jews in their own countries, doing effectively nothing, and then the shouts - no refugees, no more, not Jews, not parasites, the history of the world in capsulated form and modern times, only it felt like the Dark Ages and the heat of the flames of past and present fires overwhelmed the air, even as the agonized cries of Jews around the world, their pleadings for intervention, for refuge, for aid, as their protests grew in size and then violence as desperation rose - well, I wrenched myself out of this nightmare and then began to wonder how real was it? How likely is it?
So should I comfort myself in stories about tumbleweeds and nod my head with sagacity as I confirm my thoughts about Nature turning upon Man? But then I read another story about mounting anti Semitism, violent in form, rife with virulent hatred, and I cannot lie to myself. Bad times are coming. No, let me correct that, bad times are here. To stay? Lord, but I hope not, but someone, somewhere, give me a sign, a signal of hope, of showing me how the tumbleweeds of G-d will fall upon these people wherever they spout their poison, and the world will return to some form of sanity. Give me hope that yet another Jewish state in the Land of Israel, our ancestral homeland, will not fall, that progress will not be thrown backwards in violent heaves.
What I do know for sure is that there is a rising fear in the Jewish communities of this country and around the world. In the past few days I have spoken with, and heard from many, who are frightened such that they have never been before. Survivors and their children speakof similarities, of the growing violence, and fear the inevitable growth line of this horrendous infection unless it is stopped. And again. Who will do the stopping? Will, in fact, there be anyone who will do the stopping, care to do that, take it on? Right now, not too optimistic about that.
Tumbleweeds, formations of threatening drones, and nightmares fleshing out in vile turns and twists of reality. Sleep disappearing, its refuge gone missing there as well. Does it even end? Why must it be a dark and constant line of blood running through the centuries? Why can we not all realize that we are more alike than not, created by the same Creator, out of the same human clay, with the same needs and desires. I feel as if I am living the torments of Macbeth and wife as they, too, cannot sleep, albeit they murdered someone and I am trying to hope and pray that the bloodshed stop. Now! Forever.
Dear Lord, I need to sleep. I need to at least find comfort and refuge in my dreams. Mankind cannot long continue on in these circumstances. You promised never to destroy us with water ever again, but there is no safeguard against us destroying ourselves, in a maelstrom of blood and violence, of destruction of the very planet we inhabit. We are the tumbleweeds of our own destruction, the harbingers of a sad future. Unless....
Wednesday, January 1, 2020
BLUSTER, BELLS, AND TIGERS GALORE
So last nite there were celebrations for the new year of 2020. That is, those who were able to celebreate, but not those stuck in refugee camps all around the world, those living in tents and boxes or right on the sidewalks here in the good old USA or those in prison for daring to defy dictators, repression, fighting for democracy. But the rest of us, we just went ahead and celebrated without a mention of what was happening outside our small insulated worlds.
Don't get me wrong. I like to think that there is always that possibility that a new year will bring new sanity to those impaired by the insanity of others, for new heroes in the war against a dissolving world, for new voices who actually understand the crisis level we are at , know we must do somethng, know what to do and most important, act upon it.
Pipe dreams, I guess, for most of us with a tether to reality. This world we are in does not encourage optimism. What it does encourage is the old strategy of thrusting one's head as far under the sand as possible, drowning out the cries of those in need, and not even hearing our own voices of desperation or see actions taken that will simply turn that sand into quicksand, swallowing us all up.
Do I sound like a real downer on this, the first day of the new year? Perhaps, but really, think. What is the big difference between yesterday and today? Nothing really, other than the aftermath of disasters, definite non rosy pictures and scenarios of the future and the blustery hot winds of the dictators who have risen to power, especially this past year.
Just think of the gifts to the world on this new year. We have our embassy in Baghdad attacked, trashed, set on fire, with our people huddled within. We have Kim threatening again with his "gift" for the new year. We have Putin showcasing his new hypersonic missile, guaranteeing us all death in a MAD race to mutual destruction, and we have the a*hole who is head of government here, tweeting away his inanities and insanities and worse, with people cheering him on.
We have the hypocrisy of the man who threatens immigrants yet hired them by the hundreds to work his estates and now, after harvest at his winery, he fires them all. Never mind the false pretense of his wife's special 'skill" that entitled her to a special visa and then chain immmigration for her parents!
Never mind the words of hate that spew forth from his filthy mind and mouth, words that encourage the violent hatred we see growing in this country, uglier than ever. Thanks to him, I, as a Jew, am frightened to walk down some streets, now have security every day at the synagogue, have to worry about my grandchildren in their schools, have to worry about the future of Jewry when it seems the whole world has drunk heartily of the quaff of hatred and murder. There is no more room at the inn for them just as there was no room at the inn for that famous Jew, Jesus. No amount of excuses or crocodile tears upon hearing of more murders, more people, more Jews being slaughtered, will wash away Trump's initial words, his dastardly actions, his praise of a war criminal, his friendships with dictators, his buying into a world of corruption, of graft, of nepotism, of cronyism, of incompetence, of misogynism, of shrinking rights, a return to a world of yesterday which only and always led to war, useless, futile, murderous wars that could have been avoided had we acted appropriately, forestalled and solved the issues that led to their outbreaks.
Difficult to do? Oh, yes. Very much so. But if we do not act, then someone else will and then, we will be facing an ugliness such as we have never known. Yet in this, the new year, we can and should remember the statement by Winston Churchill. "Dictators ride to and fro upon tigers which they dare not dismount. And the tigers are getting hungry."
Folks, let us remember that we, the people,are the tigers upon which dictators ride and thrive. Let us drop out from under, leave them in the dirt. Let us return to a world where there is hope, where we do try to better the lives of all, where we pay attention to the needs of the planet, where a new year is indeed a time of joy and optimism.
A Happy New Year to all my readers and may this year be a better year than the last one.May we see only health and happiness, democracy and peace, safety and joy in the year to come.
Don't get me wrong. I like to think that there is always that possibility that a new year will bring new sanity to those impaired by the insanity of others, for new heroes in the war against a dissolving world, for new voices who actually understand the crisis level we are at , know we must do somethng, know what to do and most important, act upon it.
Pipe dreams, I guess, for most of us with a tether to reality. This world we are in does not encourage optimism. What it does encourage is the old strategy of thrusting one's head as far under the sand as possible, drowning out the cries of those in need, and not even hearing our own voices of desperation or see actions taken that will simply turn that sand into quicksand, swallowing us all up.
Do I sound like a real downer on this, the first day of the new year? Perhaps, but really, think. What is the big difference between yesterday and today? Nothing really, other than the aftermath of disasters, definite non rosy pictures and scenarios of the future and the blustery hot winds of the dictators who have risen to power, especially this past year.
Just think of the gifts to the world on this new year. We have our embassy in Baghdad attacked, trashed, set on fire, with our people huddled within. We have Kim threatening again with his "gift" for the new year. We have Putin showcasing his new hypersonic missile, guaranteeing us all death in a MAD race to mutual destruction, and we have the a*hole who is head of government here, tweeting away his inanities and insanities and worse, with people cheering him on.
We have the hypocrisy of the man who threatens immigrants yet hired them by the hundreds to work his estates and now, after harvest at his winery, he fires them all. Never mind the false pretense of his wife's special 'skill" that entitled her to a special visa and then chain immmigration for her parents!
Never mind the words of hate that spew forth from his filthy mind and mouth, words that encourage the violent hatred we see growing in this country, uglier than ever. Thanks to him, I, as a Jew, am frightened to walk down some streets, now have security every day at the synagogue, have to worry about my grandchildren in their schools, have to worry about the future of Jewry when it seems the whole world has drunk heartily of the quaff of hatred and murder. There is no more room at the inn for them just as there was no room at the inn for that famous Jew, Jesus. No amount of excuses or crocodile tears upon hearing of more murders, more people, more Jews being slaughtered, will wash away Trump's initial words, his dastardly actions, his praise of a war criminal, his friendships with dictators, his buying into a world of corruption, of graft, of nepotism, of cronyism, of incompetence, of misogynism, of shrinking rights, a return to a world of yesterday which only and always led to war, useless, futile, murderous wars that could have been avoided had we acted appropriately, forestalled and solved the issues that led to their outbreaks.
Difficult to do? Oh, yes. Very much so. But if we do not act, then someone else will and then, we will be facing an ugliness such as we have never known. Yet in this, the new year, we can and should remember the statement by Winston Churchill. "Dictators ride to and fro upon tigers which they dare not dismount. And the tigers are getting hungry."
Folks, let us remember that we, the people,are the tigers upon which dictators ride and thrive. Let us drop out from under, leave them in the dirt. Let us return to a world where there is hope, where we do try to better the lives of all, where we pay attention to the needs of the planet, where a new year is indeed a time of joy and optimism.
A Happy New Year to all my readers and may this year be a better year than the last one.May we see only health and happiness, democracy and peace, safety and joy in the year to come.
Tuesday, December 31, 2019
THE CLEANSING
Imagine if the title for today's posting was actually the title for a movie. One would imagine it as a member of the increasingly dark movies of the day wherein the sins of humanity, as a whole, or in part, are cleansed through the mechanism of some disaster, short or ongoing. This genre is dark, imagines all sorts of strange things such as not being able to hear or see or talk or can, but better not!
Now imagine our world, the world of today, rife with massive burnoffs of land and oxygen generating forests. The latest? The monthslong bushfire of Australia with the latest being that thousands are trapped on beaches with no land route out to safety, and right near populatd cities as well. Now add the additional layer of oceanic swamping of lands, of island nations, of coastal areas.
Throw in a pandemic or two in which we have no idea as to exactly what it is, how it spreads and how to cure it. Multiply the deaths of the Black Plague in the 1300's of Europe and well, here we are, with an earth on the fringes, the edges, of a crumbling cliff and all we are doing is using it as a tourist site rather than fixing it. So as the world turns becomes as the world burns, in more ways than one.
Back to the movie we are making. We borrow a phrase from Star Trek. "Survival is insufficient" and we realize that survivng as modern day cave people is not the answer. We must remain mankind, a symbol of hope, of progress, of a world where once we flourished, had a Renaissance, a growth and blooming of ideas, of philosophy, of science - but also a new world in which we recognize the need to set a boundary and hold to it. There are just some places humanity cannot go, at least not until we mature a hell of a lot more!
Assume we actually manage to repair the earth, something looking not so likely at this point, as we enter the last decade of what will be a viable earth. By 2030 we are apparently to be in a world vastly changed, with awful conditions, and nowhere to go, no place to turn. Now as we welcome in 2020 perhaps it is time we think of cleansing, but in a different way, in a positive way.
Cue entry: Enter mankind. Enter man, who then intones a soliloquy wherein he wonders how to go forward. He proposes audacious plans, challenging plans, but manages to find reasons to cancel all. The reaason? Lack of trust in man to do the right thing, to put aside the need to "get stuff", to want more and more and more, never mind the damage this greed does. The worst roadblock is the factor of trust.
How do we trust mankind which has brought us to existential horror? Andre Malraux said, "Man is not what he thinks he is; man is what he hides inside." Really. Think about it. How many people throughout history have managed to hide their true selves until it was too late to stop them without great costs? How many people do we know today who wish to hide all about themselves? Think Trump. Think McConnell. Think every single parroting Republican who refuses to be a truth seeker, a true fan of justice.
How are we to go forward when we praise a war criminal, whose brothers in arms call a "psychopath , freaking evil"? How are we to go forward when a daughter of the president, a 'senior' staff member, when asked about 900 children deemed lost, separated from parents with no records to enable reunion with parents, states that that is not hers to worry about, not within her portfolio of concerns!! Really? Would she feel the same if her children were taken away from her, never to see them again? Oh, wait, she now claims membership in the Jewish people, so that is not even a far fetched thought, is it!!
What is the matter with us , so much so that we have retrogressed in the past three years to such a degree that it should frighten one to the nth degree. How could we have made progress on acceptance, on plurality, on inclusiveness, on women's equality, on recognition of the environmental disasters we must reckon with, deal with, about the importance of globality, not nationalism, white supremacy, or the supremacy of any one particular group over others? Why have we allowed slavery to rear its ugly head, coming out of the closet for rather than secretly holding people slaves, they are sent to reeducation camps, a misnomer for prison - and take away their children, watch the tragedy develop, but because the Chinese are a trade partner we are mum about the whole thing.
Tonight, as you watch the fireworks, or the ball drop, or the band breaks out in Olde Lang Syne, think about next year or ten years hence. What is really inside you? Is it what we need to save this earth, to save ourselves, or are we doomed to continue down this dead end, to be, one day, a tourist site for archeological fans, a lesson for others, a more recent example of the meaning of the line from Shelley: "My name is Ozymandias...
Look on my works.... and despair."
A lesson to be learned. A lesson to be internalized. A lesson that is begging to be heard and acted upon. A lesson we had better take to heart or we will despair and the world will be cleansed, but not in a movie - in reality.
Now imagine our world, the world of today, rife with massive burnoffs of land and oxygen generating forests. The latest? The monthslong bushfire of Australia with the latest being that thousands are trapped on beaches with no land route out to safety, and right near populatd cities as well. Now add the additional layer of oceanic swamping of lands, of island nations, of coastal areas.
Throw in a pandemic or two in which we have no idea as to exactly what it is, how it spreads and how to cure it. Multiply the deaths of the Black Plague in the 1300's of Europe and well, here we are, with an earth on the fringes, the edges, of a crumbling cliff and all we are doing is using it as a tourist site rather than fixing it. So as the world turns becomes as the world burns, in more ways than one.
Back to the movie we are making. We borrow a phrase from Star Trek. "Survival is insufficient" and we realize that survivng as modern day cave people is not the answer. We must remain mankind, a symbol of hope, of progress, of a world where once we flourished, had a Renaissance, a growth and blooming of ideas, of philosophy, of science - but also a new world in which we recognize the need to set a boundary and hold to it. There are just some places humanity cannot go, at least not until we mature a hell of a lot more!
Assume we actually manage to repair the earth, something looking not so likely at this point, as we enter the last decade of what will be a viable earth. By 2030 we are apparently to be in a world vastly changed, with awful conditions, and nowhere to go, no place to turn. Now as we welcome in 2020 perhaps it is time we think of cleansing, but in a different way, in a positive way.
Cue entry: Enter mankind. Enter man, who then intones a soliloquy wherein he wonders how to go forward. He proposes audacious plans, challenging plans, but manages to find reasons to cancel all. The reaason? Lack of trust in man to do the right thing, to put aside the need to "get stuff", to want more and more and more, never mind the damage this greed does. The worst roadblock is the factor of trust.
How do we trust mankind which has brought us to existential horror? Andre Malraux said, "Man is not what he thinks he is; man is what he hides inside." Really. Think about it. How many people throughout history have managed to hide their true selves until it was too late to stop them without great costs? How many people do we know today who wish to hide all about themselves? Think Trump. Think McConnell. Think every single parroting Republican who refuses to be a truth seeker, a true fan of justice.
How are we to go forward when we praise a war criminal, whose brothers in arms call a "psychopath , freaking evil"? How are we to go forward when a daughter of the president, a 'senior' staff member, when asked about 900 children deemed lost, separated from parents with no records to enable reunion with parents, states that that is not hers to worry about, not within her portfolio of concerns!! Really? Would she feel the same if her children were taken away from her, never to see them again? Oh, wait, she now claims membership in the Jewish people, so that is not even a far fetched thought, is it!!
What is the matter with us , so much so that we have retrogressed in the past three years to such a degree that it should frighten one to the nth degree. How could we have made progress on acceptance, on plurality, on inclusiveness, on women's equality, on recognition of the environmental disasters we must reckon with, deal with, about the importance of globality, not nationalism, white supremacy, or the supremacy of any one particular group over others? Why have we allowed slavery to rear its ugly head, coming out of the closet for rather than secretly holding people slaves, they are sent to reeducation camps, a misnomer for prison - and take away their children, watch the tragedy develop, but because the Chinese are a trade partner we are mum about the whole thing.
Tonight, as you watch the fireworks, or the ball drop, or the band breaks out in Olde Lang Syne, think about next year or ten years hence. What is really inside you? Is it what we need to save this earth, to save ourselves, or are we doomed to continue down this dead end, to be, one day, a tourist site for archeological fans, a lesson for others, a more recent example of the meaning of the line from Shelley: "My name is Ozymandias...
Look on my works.... and despair."
A lesson to be learned. A lesson to be internalized. A lesson that is begging to be heard and acted upon. A lesson we had better take to heart or we will despair and the world will be cleansed, but not in a movie - in reality.
Monday, December 30, 2019
TIME FOR A FEW BRIEF WORDS
Yes, I 'fess up. I am guilty of writing many words where perhaps a few would do, but there it is. Too old to change that habit, so what does the title mean? It tells us that there are some times a few words that just about carry the day, explain an issue or highlight the problem. Here are a few.
So it comes down to this: if you have a rigged trial there's no exoneration in acquittal." Well, what have we been saying all along. Murkowski came the closest to this issue, at least from the Republican side, but how about all of those Senators read these few words and acknowledge the truth, acknowledge that despite the truth of these words, the fear, their cowardice, their lack of moral fiber are driving them to ignore it and continue down the road to perdition as they sell their souls to Trump.
Out of the mouth of the Devil's right hand man we get this: My advice to Giuliani would be to share what he got from Ukraine with the IC [intelligence community] to make sure it’s not Russia propaganda. I’m very suspicious of what the Russians are up to all over the world.” Well, hello! What have we been saying all along and now the wacked out, ugly faced, screaming Graham warns that the Russians have done something naughty and it is not Ukraine!!! Really?! How nice that he voices what he has been denying all along. Now how about he admit that, put on big boy pants, square his shoulders and admit he was wrong, do the right thing. It is not see no evil, hear no evil, but speak a hell of a lot of evil. It is see it all for what the truth is and do the right thing.
Oh, yes. More to come. Yesterday I wrote against and about the growing poison and horror of anti Semitism in the world, and most shockingly, right here in America. “This is a national phenomenon that we are seeing and it’s frightening and it’s disturbing,” Cuomo said at a news conference Sunday. “If anyone thinks that something poisonous is not going on in this country, then they’re in denial.” As stated before, this hatred, this poison, these awful deeds go on and overtake and erase boundaries. Shootings are extended to schools, to churches, to people walking along a street on a beautiful afternon. The nature of terrorism, and that is what this is, is to grow, to feed upon its hate, to drink the blood it sheds and spread and spread and spread until there is no stopping it, its ugly tentacles all over and reaching all. Certainly not without a monumental struggle that could have been avoided if we would have recognized it as terrorism, as hatred, as wrong, right in the beginning and stomped on it. But we don't, we did not, and here we are. All the words, all the platitudes, do not make up for machetes swinging through the air, slashing and cutting, the whistle of bullets flying through the air, the screams and the fright. These are for a lifetime and it is about damn time that we stop pussyfooting around.
Finally, the shocking news that an icon of America, a hero of the civil rights fight and movement, John Lewis, is ill with stage 4 pancreatic cancer. While I did not always agree with him, the courage he displayed during his lifetime, the courage he displays now as he fights this sentence of death, well, would that we all would have the courage to follow his path of treading the walkways of right, of courage, of honesty, of freedom, of inclusion, of justice, of fierce fighting against terrorism and hatred. These words about him, “the conscience of the U.S. Congress.” are words that we should all aspire to reach in our own lives.
We need to join the fight of life for us all, no matter the difficulty, no matter the demands put upon us. There is no separating society permanently, and be it protest here, or the brave people of Hong Kong, or in countries where corruption is rife and the people have had enough, we need to join the fight and take our guidance from his words.
“I have been in some kind of fight — for freedom, equality, basic human rights — for nearly my entire life,” Lewis said. “I have never faced a fight quite like the one I have now.”
We, too, have never had to fight the evil we are facing in our America. Fight the good fight, no matter what the evil of the opposition is. This is our only hope, the only pathway that remains.
So it comes down to this: if you have a rigged trial there's no exoneration in acquittal." Well, what have we been saying all along. Murkowski came the closest to this issue, at least from the Republican side, but how about all of those Senators read these few words and acknowledge the truth, acknowledge that despite the truth of these words, the fear, their cowardice, their lack of moral fiber are driving them to ignore it and continue down the road to perdition as they sell their souls to Trump.
Out of the mouth of the Devil's right hand man we get this: My advice to Giuliani would be to share what he got from Ukraine with the IC [intelligence community] to make sure it’s not Russia propaganda. I’m very suspicious of what the Russians are up to all over the world.” Well, hello! What have we been saying all along and now the wacked out, ugly faced, screaming Graham warns that the Russians have done something naughty and it is not Ukraine!!! Really?! How nice that he voices what he has been denying all along. Now how about he admit that, put on big boy pants, square his shoulders and admit he was wrong, do the right thing. It is not see no evil, hear no evil, but speak a hell of a lot of evil. It is see it all for what the truth is and do the right thing.
Oh, yes. More to come. Yesterday I wrote against and about the growing poison and horror of anti Semitism in the world, and most shockingly, right here in America. “This is a national phenomenon that we are seeing and it’s frightening and it’s disturbing,” Cuomo said at a news conference Sunday. “If anyone thinks that something poisonous is not going on in this country, then they’re in denial.” As stated before, this hatred, this poison, these awful deeds go on and overtake and erase boundaries. Shootings are extended to schools, to churches, to people walking along a street on a beautiful afternon. The nature of terrorism, and that is what this is, is to grow, to feed upon its hate, to drink the blood it sheds and spread and spread and spread until there is no stopping it, its ugly tentacles all over and reaching all. Certainly not without a monumental struggle that could have been avoided if we would have recognized it as terrorism, as hatred, as wrong, right in the beginning and stomped on it. But we don't, we did not, and here we are. All the words, all the platitudes, do not make up for machetes swinging through the air, slashing and cutting, the whistle of bullets flying through the air, the screams and the fright. These are for a lifetime and it is about damn time that we stop pussyfooting around.
Finally, the shocking news that an icon of America, a hero of the civil rights fight and movement, John Lewis, is ill with stage 4 pancreatic cancer. While I did not always agree with him, the courage he displayed during his lifetime, the courage he displays now as he fights this sentence of death, well, would that we all would have the courage to follow his path of treading the walkways of right, of courage, of honesty, of freedom, of inclusion, of justice, of fierce fighting against terrorism and hatred. These words about him, “the conscience of the U.S. Congress.” are words that we should all aspire to reach in our own lives.
We need to join the fight of life for us all, no matter the difficulty, no matter the demands put upon us. There is no separating society permanently, and be it protest here, or the brave people of Hong Kong, or in countries where corruption is rife and the people have had enough, we need to join the fight and take our guidance from his words.
“I have been in some kind of fight — for freedom, equality, basic human rights — for nearly my entire life,” Lewis said. “I have never faced a fight quite like the one I have now.”
We, too, have never had to fight the evil we are facing in our America. Fight the good fight, no matter what the evil of the opposition is. This is our only hope, the only pathway that remains.
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