Tuesday, October 06, 2020                                               5:30 AM

Places   (2020Oct06)

There are places where people will just shoot you. There are places where people will just rape you. There are places where people will tell lies about you. Regular folks like you and me usually avoid such places.

The trouble is, the best humans that ever lived all got killed, from baby Jesus all the way to MLK, including Gandhi, the Kennedy Bros., and Malcolm X. It makes a person ponder: Am I good enough to drive others to murder me? Because we all know the truth: If you stand up and defend the truth loudly enough, in the wrong situation, someone will kill you.

Now, there are also campuses where the most delicate sensibility will find a willing audience; art galleries where the most enigmatic claims to artistic expression are allowed full display to the investors. It’s never all one thing.

But I have found that evil always carries the seeds of its own destruction. In the pursuit of its goals, evil inevitable reveals its true nature, repelling anyone who once saw it as viable.

The trick with evil is not to fight it, so much as to hurry it along to its own destruction, with as little contact as possible.

Sunday, June 21, 2020                                             5:52 PM

Breadth of Freedom   (2020Jun21)

In the 1950s, the Pulps, as they were called, were considered a bad influence on children, along with Comic Books. This was the mind-set for which the Fifties are famous: some topics of conversation were forbidden, and others very definitely frowned upon.

But even the 1950s were broader-minded than the preceding decade—and this could be said of each the 20^th Century’s decades. The acceleration of transportation and communications made ‘decades’ the new normal for a changing world.

Prior to the Industrial Explosion, humanity was regional, parochial, and only managed significant change in terms of centuries. And prior to the early cultures of the Mediterranean, change in humanity’s condition is measured in millennia.

Today’s Americans measure change by four-year presidential terms (whether they are first or second terms is immaterial). But the 1950s stands out as the last-gasp of a slower, more-ignorant American public. Communities still considered themselves close-knit enough for conversational taboos to keep uncomfortable ideas and issues from coming to light.

I am most impressed by the human habit of being irritated by a change in subject-matter. In olden times, saying anything unusual was a good way to get beat upon—if you weren’t a witch or a troublemaker, you were just simple in the head.

We have no conception of the communal irritation that ‘free’-ish thinkers were subjected to. The phrase Fulton’s Folly is still known, echoing down history as a reminder that his entire community laughed in Fulton’s face for years while he developed the first working steamboat.

In Salem, centuries earlier, women were being executed for looking funny at someone. We have no idea of the power of peer pressure, in the days when a community was tighter than most modern families.

It is only the disruption of Science and Reason that have levered humanity out of its built-in communal dysfunction—and I know, if civilization should happen to crash, that freedom-from-bullying will be the thing I’ll miss most.

The effects on me are curious: I would be at risk in many countries—not realizing that religious talk can be fatal, or other unconventional thoughts that may be illegal or dangerous to express—and it wouldn’t be safe for me to bring my library to many countries. Even in more conservative American regions, I could easily disgrace myself, just by being my usual discursive jabbermouth.

But one really has to read science fiction to get the full scope of the revolution in thinking—publicly-debated, social thinking—that liberal America (and most of Europe and Japan) enjoy. Asimov, Clarke, Sturgeon, et. al. were writing for the pulps in the fifties—because the idea of leaving the Earth was one of those ‘Beat-that-guy-up’ Ideas that ‘serious’ people had pooh-poohed forever.

Soon after, several things happened: People left the Earth, and the USA was spending billions to catch up. Arthur C. Clarke was awarded the patent for TelStar, the first telecommunications satellite in geo-synch orbit, because he published a pulp story that described it in exact detail —which kinda shut up all the naysayers. Then there was Roddenberry’s “Star Trek” and Kurt Vonnegut’s take on the far side of sci-fi—and humanity.

The amazing concept of interchanging numbers with characters, into something called ‘programming’—for a thinking machine, no less, was kept a deep secret, from the end of WWII onward. Had the Nerd Revolution not been swept off their feet by Intel, and further titillated by the globe-spanning power of the Internet, Computer Science might yet be a state secret, rotting in storage like Indy’s Ark.

Instead, we have an explosion, not only in new tools of digital magic—but an explosion of concepts, borne of the instantiation of such things as databases, real-time feeds, multi-player gaming, etc., etc. Alan Turing probably never considered the swath of established businesses (and business practices) that digital technology would erase from history, like horse-buggy-whips. Digitalization is changing more than business—it is changing the world. I hope no one was attached to our existing socio-economic culture—‘cause it’s going fast….

Tuesday, May 05, 2020                                            6:22 AM

Protest Too Much?   (2020May05)

Liberals attack thoughtlessness and unfairness, mostly. To call them ‘snowflakes’ (?) implies the name-caller finds empathy and decency to be beyond the pale—something only a sissy would bother with.

As with most insults, it shames the namer more than the named. If you wanted ‘snowflake’ to mean a hysterical, panicky type, you’d have to apply it to the ‘Red team’.

Kirk Cameron made a Jesus-flic a few years ago. It was called “Saving Christmas” and it was meant to encourage viewers to “…stand fast against a culture that seeks to trivialize and eliminate the faith-element of this holiday…”

Likewise, there are apparently millions of Americans who believe that liberals are trying to ‘take their guns’. I’ll bet you Liberals own more firepower than the kkklan and the 4-H put together—but that’s beside the point.

Conservative men whine that the ‘Me Too’ movement has left them confused about what they can or can’t do or say. If these men truly don’t get that message, their problems go deeper than sexual politics—but conservative politicians will further this meme, to push back against equal rights for women.

These grown children always yell before the doctor evens sticks them—before there’s a doctor in the room. And they invent these projects of ‘ours’, like we spend our lives trying to attack Conservatives.  We’re not the ones trying to suppress voters or gerrymander districts—we don’t need to.

I am perfectly happy with our Freedom of Religion rights, even without one of my own. I respect the Fourth Amendment—I just want some records kept, like with a car. I don’t want sex to become a legal issue—but I believe every person deserves respect and protection under the law.

Accusing me of attacking Christianity is fantasy. Accusing me of trying to disarm America is hyperbole without shame. Bitching about how you can’t paw women anymore—you’re on your own with that one.

“President” Trump is a de facto murderer, thru his inept dereliction and incompetence. The number of the dead is horrific—and we aren’t nearly done. Every day, president stare-at-the-sun announces non sequiturs—and shuns cogent questions regarding vital testing supplies.

And his tribe of primitives is out, breaking quarantine to protest the quarantine. That does it—Trump has convinced these yahoos to protest their doctors’ advice.

Trump has convinced his ‘base’ of incredible nonsense, on a regular basis—but the number of people that will die from protesting will be much greater than the people who drink bleach, or whatever….

So, it’s no great leap for Trump, or McConnell, to convince these deplorables—that we Liberals are just waiting fer a chance to bushwhack them varmints! Actually, we have other shit on our minds. But we do worry about all those people, listening to a psycho from TV….

Friday, May 01, 2020                                               11:31 PM

I Can’t Recall the Event   (2020May01)

Self-isolation is the literal definition of divisiveness. As a democracy, we are hobbled without the ability to congregate, to interact, and to protest.

I support the quarantine—I’m not one of those crazies. I’m just pointing out that our national quarantine is an unprecedented level of incompetence within the Federal Government. And a very dangerous position for our Democracy, given the Republicans’ ruthless inhumanity.

Better-run countries are doing tests and tracing source-points, as a First-World country does (so they don’t have to shut down, like some nineteenth-century Plague being re-enacted). Along with a death total (USA: 64,000 as of today) I’m seeing news reports of Trump muzzling the CDC, Dr. Fauci, and God knows who else.

‘President’ Donald Trump is acting as a de facto ‘useful idiot’ for the anti-Americans—whether he has a relationship with a specific head-of-state—or simply has narcissist sociopathy that presents as treasonous, it’s clear that Trump is a clear and present danger. He’s also trying to shovel unaccounted-for funds towards his billionaire buddies.

But who’s gonna stop him doing that, when he’s doing such a great job of obstructing both aid for, and information about, the pandemic? We are all in the grip of a handful of monstrously sociopathic anti-Americans.

Trump, Pence, Barr, McConnell, and a host of tame Republicans legislators have put us all in danger. They have made us as small and twisted as they are. I had cognitive dissonance in ’16, when that fat fuck was elected—and I still can’t believe I live in a place that trusts that piece of shit—or his buddies.

If lying was ever more transparent, I can’t recall the event. If incompetence in governing was ever more un-laughably laughable, I can’t recall the event. If any semblance of responsibility was ever more absent, I can’t recall the event. If corruption ever before enjoyed such freedom from objective analysis, I can’t recall the event.

I won’t call for Impeachment. They’ve even got that foxed. But, Americans, I ask you: is what we call the Republican Party still a political party—or has their lust for partisanship ‘morphed’ them into an enemy of the people? They call it the party of the wealthy. Is that what they mean by it?

Saturday, April 25, 2020                                          5:24 PM

Seen & Accepted   (2020Apr25)

You’ll remember from past presidents—during a crisis, they addressed the nation, reassured them that an adult was on the case, and then disappeared. They worked behind-the-scenes to remove the crisis from the headlines.

This was only common sense, from a citizen’s POV and from a political POV. Those past presidents had credibility (be it ever so tattered). When Nixon resigned, he was recognizing that no serious adult was taking his side. Trump has known this (or should) since his Impeachment.

Look at the many ‘reasonable adults’ in Trump’s own circle—and yes, term used loosely, & so on—who have, at least, recognized a politically untenable position when they were in one, and resigned. Only that cowboy-clown child-molester down south has equaled Trump in ‘Deafness to The Room”.

We must recognize: the people “empowered” by Trump are disreputable, sloppy-thinking ticks, who have (to quote Asimov) “the false notion that democracy means that ‘my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.’”

They have been made to feel inferior their whole lives. Their lack of alacrity in wit and philosophy—is merely the consequence of their disinterest (or disability) in Reason. I’m just realizing that my own love of Reason is what stands out.

Every time I meet new people, there’s always someone who asks me if I’m a teacher or a scientist. It’s flattering, but it also puts distance between me and everyone else. My speech, my vocabulary, my attitude, even my body language—everyone else sees it immediately, but I never really got it until now.

I’m a scholastic. That is an obsolete term, from before modern times—as is my spirit, to some degree. I’ve always been interested in learning new stuff—and sharing it with others. What never really clicked, for me, was that this is not normal—I am not normal.

I’m just remarking on the reflexive principle at play here. There is an emotional component to being smarter than average—and there is an emotional component to being less-smart than average. Both extremes, on either side of the bell-curve, spend most of our lives trying to be seen, to be accepted.

And it may be hard to accept the Trump-base people—but we sure can see them now, can’t we?

Wednesday, April 01, 2020                                              4:41 AM

Not for God   (2020Apr01)

People are animals. I don’t mean to be mean, I’m just stating a fact. There’s nothing inherently wrong with animals. Animals with the power of thought are a problem. We didn’t ask to be born. We didn’t ask to be ‘thinkers’. We didn’t ask to be stressed, insofar as we expect ourselves to be better-behaved than animals.

We are animals. Cruelty to animals is an expression of self-loathing and hatred of one’s own life. Misogyny is an example of how our thoughts are skewed by our feelings—knowing that women are basically ‘man, plus’, givers of life and love.

In fact, in many ways, men have no idea what love is—I certainly didn’t. I had lust, surely, and peer-pressure, and ego. But I hadn’t the faintest notion of love with the big L. We only get that from our mothers (if lucky) and are taught to be embarrassed by it, as soon as we socialize with other males.

And the masculine bent of organized religion is a monument to this dysfunction. That is why I am an atheist—religion is far-too-obviously a male scam, peaking during the era of witch-burning—when any women who acted with agency was quickly tortured to death.

But religion contains another primitive meme—the authoritarian skew that weaponizes the whole thing. God must be obeyed, thus the priest, the father, the male, must be obeyed—it’s a great racket. But the most dangerous thing about organized religion is that it buries the lede.

Men are not important. Authority is not important. Both are products of our dark side. The only truth in religion is the love of good. I’ve spent my life, trying to be good. Not for god—fuck’m. I do it because it is the only worthwhile aspect of our species—the urge towards goodness.

If we wish to be proud of the human race, of being a part of it, we have to stop with the mythology and start becoming our best evolutionary outcome.

Tuesday, March 31, 2020                                        6:05 AM

Things They Oughtn’t   (2020Mar31)

The sad truth is that the educated, rational folks who produce modern technology are not always anticipating, say, the Internet’s potential, in the hands of a misanthropic, irrational troublemaker. America’s vaunted freedoms are based partly on the lag time, between something starting to happen—and the eventual legislative remedy for abuse of the new technology.

Capitalism, too, subsists in no small part on that gray area between unthoughtful and illegal. Very few people would actually be comfortable with wealth, knowing that its source was a criminal rip-off, or the cause of climate change, or caused cancer, or was manufactured by under-aged slave-labor.

But there are arms-manufacturers, pharmaceutical price-hikers, oil industry execs, bankers, investors, PR folks, etc. who are all willing to live by the maxim: ‘If I don’t do it, someone else will. And where does that leave me?’’ And I must admit, as heuristics go, it’s difficult to find fault with that reasoning.

However, I find that a good, solid argument can often be the worst kind of roadblock to an open mind. Perhaps I should state, rather than leave implicit, that an open mind is the most important part of personal liberty. Oddly, no one can give you an open mind—and no one can take an open mind away from you (just FYI and bye-the-bye).

Thus I have ever linked (since childhood) freedom of thought and open-minded-ness as core to being a solid American citizen. Perhaps this is what Conservatives don’t understand about Liberal values? I dunno. To resume:

Capitalism’s emphasis on ownership is reasonable within the bounds of business. But what Marx so inconveniently pointed out was, that the bounds of business often ignored the bounds of decency or humanity. We see the ultimate metastasis of Civilization’s “Big C” in the morphing of the USA from a land of overall wealth, to a land of poverty, with a handful of billionaires.

Bad people will do a lot of things they oughtn’t do—that doesn’t force us to do likewise, nor should we mistake their behavior for ’leadership’. Wealth has, for too long, accorded unearned dignity and false brilliance to its random lottery-of-inheritance winners.

And let’s not forget those savage enough to claw their way up, from nothing. They made themselves rich—shouldn’t a role-model show people how to rise up as a group?

I get it—it’s a great accomplishment—no denying. But at my age, I’ve come to suspect that I have more fun, imagining wealth, without knowing about all the pain-in-the-ass details, than an actual Richie Rich enjoys his actual dollars. I could be wrong. But I’m not.

Ask anyone—they’ll assure you: Money is everything. Yeah, you buy food and pay rent with it—but not always. Some people grow their own food. Some people live in their cars. Money is big—real big. But stop brain-washing yourself—money is NOT everything. It is an invention—when it stops working, people will stop using it.

That’s probably going to be a lot messier. I mean, than if we don’t make a conscious choice to shift towards increased social-service and social-support programs while the dregs of the outdated C system are still chugging away.

Science Fiction always predicts a future without want or payment—a post-need society. Ask HR what they think of that idea—ask the SCOTUS, while you’re at it. Gene Roddenberry’s Star Trek made it all seem so simple. But can we get there from here?

Friday, March 27, 2020                                            4:16 AM

H²O   (2020Mar27)

Water is Life. Life is Water.

60% of the human body is water (H.H. Mitchell, Journal of Biological Chemistry 158). Here’s the breakdown:

Brain and heart                   73% water

Lungs                                   83% water

Skin                                      64% water

Muscles and kidneys          79% water

Bones                                   31% water

Biologists often liken land animals’ bodies to ‘space-suits’ for their original ‘sea-ancestors’, evolutionarily speaking. I find evolution, and its implications, as breathtaking as photos from the Hubble. That eternal humping towards a Jerusalem of infinite potential in DNA, in Mitochondria, in Microbiology in general—it’s psychedelic, man. Personally, I didn’t really see it, until Joan Slonczewski’s books explicated it for me.

But microbiology as technology is, IMHO, the only way to approach climate change, or the mitigation of human impact on environment. If that can’t cut it, no amount of space travel is going to mean jack. But I’m addressing Water, or I should be.

Water is known in chemical settings as the Universal Solvent. It is an ingredient in most poisoning-remedies. It dissolves salts, sugars—even rocks, which gives us both our sandy beaches and our Grand Canyon. Water is the culprit who carries mineral deposits to your kidney and gall bladder.

Chemically, Water is also notable for being easily state-changed, from solid to liquid to gas, and back again (dew, for instance). Not surprisingly, the key Molecule in Life, has unique characteristics.

Chlorine, BTW, the most toxic chemical in our lives, has equally, but darker, unique qualities—which make it the most deadly molecule. Neal Stephenson wrote a wonderful eco-thriller novel about industrial misuse of Chlorine, “Zodiac”, which I recommend. But, again, I digress.

So, Water, as a beverage, is always encouraged. To excess, of course (are we not humans?) You can drink too much water, just as you can drink too little. Why is moderation the last thought that ever occurs to us humans? I can’t seem to stay on subject this evening>

I’ll try this again, later….

Monday, March 23, 2020                                                  11:11 PM

The Disgrace at the Head of Our Country   (2020Mar23)

Republicans just don’t know when to put their dicks away. It’s as if they’re locked into Bluster-only. They’ve completely lost sight of the ‘Public Service’ theme. Trump tries to restrain his third-world-dictator persona, with all his might, during his flabber-talk (daily, for some reason).

But it still seeps through. You can hear in his voice that his only interest is in bans, boundaries, and limits—his focus remains on personal control, not fixing the pandemic.

And his Senate buddies are like dogs, smelling large cash amounts in play, and unable to listen to commands! They’ve actually held up vital legislation, to make sure they all get a big bite. As usual, they are disgraceful—and worthless as leaders.

By comparison, State leaders and local systems are dealing with the threat in an exemplary manner. It’s marred only by the total void, where federal sources of aid would normally be—and these people have to work even harder, more admirably, because of the disgrace at the head of our country.

Friday, March 20, 2020                                            12:55 AM

Small Gov Death Toll   (2020Mar20)

If there’s a big ‘silver lining’ to this medical massacre, it is the proof that our world can turn itself upside-down at the flick of a switch. Everything’s closed. Everything’s stopped. Whatever was a sure thing, last week, is a pipe-dream today. Whatever was debated, last week, is now known as fact—and we didn’t even have to prove Trump wrong. We just had to have people start dying.

But, to get back to my point, there is evidence here—evidence that our society is not static, nor locked into financial regulations—it is a living thing. And, being human, if we are offered a new path, we’ll tell the super-wealthy to go F themselves.

Humanity still has enough instinct to drop what they’re doing and flee from disease, hunkering in their homes, so long as Plague stalks the streets. Trump’s non-existent ‘leadership’ is highlighted by the many examples of it displayed by various state and local leaders, in all 50 states. Conservs wanted ‘small government’—here it is: 50 entities acting without any coordination. My only question is: Are we gonna call the mortality-total the ‘death-toll’ of the Virus—or the ‘death-toll’ of the Trump administration?

Thursday, March 19, 2020                                               2:18 AM

Those Hoaxing Democrats   (2020Mar19)

We see by the poor results of our Federal Government’s response to the recent viral pandemic (and thank god for competent state and local authorities) that American society is no longer reflected by Capitalism. Capitalism has gone from an engine-of-progress, to a small elite, willfully persecuting citizens—and fragmenting their communities.

These ‘elites’ have gone so far as to ‘rebut’ reality, in broad daylight. It’s their current system of public address. Trump and henchmen spent weeks, urging folks to mingle, to get out there and spend money in restaurants. Who knows how much worse they made this crisis?

And now, they ‘spring’ into action, accepting reality, as people die and hospitals fill—without any reference to their little tap-dance of the previous two weeks. O, don’t bother making a fuss about last week’s lies, or the week’s before—we’ve got all new misinformation for you, hot off the grill.

If you are not a dyed-in-the-wool, certified Geek like myself (I once made a living, writing code all day) you have no business confining your life to the tiny screen in front of you. Go talk to your friends for real—what’s the big deal? Or, if it wouldn’t kill you, you could even use a phone as a phone.

The elites let the chain-stores gut American small towns from coast to coast—you think they’re gonna change i-phones to make them safer? Why is social media a sniper’s nest for every psychopath with a conspiracy theory? Is it really impossible to regulate the internet, without strangling free-speech—or does that merely make the effort unprofitable?

After the Republicans finished urging citizens to gather together in public places (and spend money, of course) and claiming this pandemic was a ‘Democrat Hoax’, Trump and henchmen are finally acting as if there is a pandemic.

My favorite quote from all of this is possibly the most cogent argument against the sitting president anyone could possibly make—Trump: “I take responsibility for absolutely nothing.” And, no, that is not out of context. I would say it defines the present context.

Tuesday, March 17, 2020                                        12:03 AM

China Envy   (2020Mar17)

I don’t care for the Media’s attempts to make us envy China’s pandemic response strategy. The Chinese herd and isolate their people like cattle. Of course, that’ll do it—if you don’t mind being in the herd.

The Chinese choose to live the way they do—just as we choose to live like Americans. We had a perfectly good American pandemic response strategy. Obama had everything ‘ready to roll’ at the first sign of viral threat. Obama’s Administration explained to the incoming Trump people what these emergency provisions were for—and told them to expect this kind of threat in the near future.

Trump was told. Trump was warned. Trump trashed it all—just ‘cause Obama built it. If you want to be mad at Trump, you have more than enough reason to. He’s still doing his best to F everything up—he’s probably tweeting right now. I’m certainly mad as hell.

If you want to be afraid of the pandemic—that too, comes well within the bounds of reason—be afraid—or just worry a lot, like I do.

But, for god’s sake, don’t start envying the Chinese!

What the hell is wrong with you people?!

I’m sick and tired of the Media encouraging the entire population to panic every time the world goes awry. Cowardice is not America’s ‘brand’—or, it didn’t used to be….

Monday, March 09, 2020                                        3:56 PM

Otherwise Sensible People   (2020Mar09)

The media is supposed to perform a public service. They would, ideally, tell us exactly what is going on, where to go for help or answers, and exactly what the experts have said. Creating panic is not on that list—fear-mongering for ratings is Extremist Post-Ethics Capitalism in its naked form.

We see ‘professional’ shift in meaning—from mature-competence-and-responsibility to rapacious amorality—Capitalism’s eternally slippery slope adopts the fashion of fuck-yer-buddy as a logical path towards maximum profits. Reagan sold it well. But Trump is the perfect illustration of what eventually transpires in a Republican culture with ethical corner-cutting.

President Disgrace seems to have only one gear—and lying-one’s-ass-off is a particularly awkward tool to bring to a Health Crisis. It is fortunate that most Americans have had four years to learn to ignore everything he says—his psychotic blabberings in response to the Corona Virus emergency would have caused national panic, coming from a real president.

I’m an at-risk senior—Corona has come to Somers. Westchester County is, in fact, one of the worst loci on the East Coast.  I can face death. That’s not what bothers me.

What bothers me is President Impeached dismantled all the infrastructure built by Obama’s foresight. Obama got us through the Ebola outbreak completely unscathed. Obama saw the future and acted to shore up our health safeguards—with special ‘virus’-squads in the CDC, in Homeland, and with the Pentagon. Trump trashed all of that stuff—because Trump isn’t a responsible adult, much less a president. Trump has replaced Benedict Arnold as America’s Biggest Traitor. Trump betrays everything and everyone—it is his brand. It doesn’t surprise me at all, anymore. What continues to shock and amaze me is the favor he is still shown by otherwise sensible people.

Sunday, March 01, 2020                                                    4:51 PM

Rashōmon   (2020Mar01)

Life in the world of Magic was interesting. Don’t mistake me—with great power comes great danger—it was by no means a quiet life—but Magic gave life a depth which it no longer has. But we are humans. We used it all up—didn’t we?

Shall I tell you the story of the last Magic? We know its worldly interpretation: “Song of Bernadette” (1945 – Twentieth Century Fox). But others know it as the Final Chapter of The Saga of the Last Blue Fairy, a ceremonial chorus last sung round an oak tree in 2005.

No one expects Magic to return, at these gatherings. They are an amalgam of respect for the past and mourning for an irreplaceable loss. Is it healthy or not, to remember that the world once had a deeper dimension to it? To regret the human nature that led to its absence?

Still, one fascinating aspect of the chanting of the Saga is that final chapter. When the last Blue Fairy was very old, nearing her Transit, and barely visible in daylight, she sensed a pocket of Life-Water, just beneath the ground in Massabielle, France. Risking her life, she exposed herself to a human girl—who, luckily, mistook her for one of their gods. But she dug up the virgin spring, releasing the Life-Water, which was all that mattered.

It was the last bit of Magic on Earth—and the Lady-Fairy of the Blues felt it only right to have the Magic depart with her, the last of her species. The humans flocked to it, as humans always do. In less than a year, it was pure water, like any other spring. We, the descendants of their human servants, still keep alive the memory of the Old World, the world of Magic and Fairies (and ‘gods’). We gather round the Old Oak, the big one. We have a bonfire, we have a dance, we chant the chant, we drink the mead. And we dream of better times, times when the Earth’s soul was still inviolate.

Thursday, February 27, 2020                                           11:37 AM

Science Debate   (2020Feb27)

The debate over the shape of the Earth has been a reliable measure of a person’s intellect, since Ancient Greece, when one guy remarked, “All you have to do is, watch a ship sink beneath the horizon, its mast-top the last thing to disappear, to know that our Earth is shaped liked an orange.” For millennia, well-educated flat-earthers could point out that, “If the world was round, why don’t we all fall off?” Thank goodness for Isaac Newton.

Claudius Ptolemaeus (c. AD 100 – c. 170) was quite certain the Earth was the center of the Universe. He invented the Ptolemaic System, which explained how all the planets (& the Sun) revolved around the Earth. His planets stopped in orbit, occasionally, to do a little dance-orbit, then continue on their ‘big’ orbit. Ptolemy made an assumption—he was geocentric.

“Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems” by Galileo (1632) explained that all the planets ran in smooth orbits (and so did we) around the Sun. He was tried for heresy by the Inquisition (No one ever expects that, right?) and kept under house arrest for the rest of his life. But since he was the ‘father’ of modern science, he just continued doing experimental research.

Therefore, it took 1,500 years for someone to correct Ptolemy’s assumption—and people were so used to it, they threw the ‘snowflake’ in jail for life. Fortunately, the scientists that grew out of the Renaissance were more receptive to Galileo’s math… although the Vatican did issue an apology to Galileo, about ten years ago, or so.

Sigismund Schlomo Freud (May 6, 1856 – September 23, 1939) would invent psychoanalysis, but he would wrap it up in his own emotional issues, using his assumption of male chauvinism as a given, rather than an artificial overlay on society. This assumption made Freud’s work an amalgam of his study of the mind, and the feelings of his heart—a mess that psychologists are still trying to straighten out, a century later. Freud made an assumption—he thought everyone was like him, in ways he didn’t think of.

This is all by way of saying: Science is a slow grind—and people are its worst enemy. Galileo was also influential in separating the arts from the new, ‘reproducible’ sciences—and some people, including me, are still not sure if that was the right move…

But Science is beside the point.

We are faced with a psycho who believes that if he repeats a lie long enough, it will become true—and millions of people who are rooting for him to get away with it. Science will not help you here.

We are faced with a Republican Senate that admitted, sotto voce, ‘Yeah, he did it all—of course he did it all.’—and then acquitted—as if what he did was not treasonously criminal, clumsy, and unacceptable. It was acceptable to the Republican Senate and they said, “Forget it—we don’t care.”

If one single GOP Nazi Traitor remains in office after their 2020 elections, this country has entirely lost its way—like a cute, cartoon mouse with a thousand lawyers, or a Pussy-Grabber in the Oval Office. Where’s Galileo when you need him?

Friday, February 14, 2020                                       7:33 AM

What Are You Doing In Public Service?   (2020Feb14)

I imagine right now the Republicans feel pretty much the same way the White Sox felt after they threw the Series, 101 years ago. See, the ‘Black Sox’ (as they came to be known) were just part of a culture of sports-bet fixing that had become endemic. The players assumed that this was acceptable behavior, because of the corruption all around them. They went out and got drunk on the money they were paid.

When a straight-up judge was appointed the first Baseball Commissioner, he ignored the legal acquittals of the players and banned them for life, ignoring life-long pleas for re-instatement. This seems harsh to some, but it resulted in restoration of public faith in our national pastime—and our common belief in the integrity of modern pro baseball games.

The Republicans have been doing the truth-denying, respect my authoritah, science-is-lying ‘thing’ for years—remember the ‘Tea Party’?—a simperingly-cute label for a regressive inversion of truth and logic never-before-seen. What a bunch of racist conspiracies against the plain truth! Those people made me want to start screaming—the blatant confidence of sheer dumb-assed-ness.

But I don’t think these intellectual cowards, these locked-in-their-own-self-interest morons, have yet become the majority of voters. I think people that miss a respected and powerful America (or human rights?) may vote for someone else….

And please don’t try to tell me that Trump deserves credit for the fantastic Obama-fix of our economy—which he did nothing but ‘F’ with. Trump has been an out-in-the-open criminal (while Republicans spent the last four years pretending he was fine) destroying, dismissing, or demeaning every American value he can get his hands on. And while his leadership results are in the high negatives, his practical effect on our country has been nil—his accomplishments remain entirely on Twitter. His advisors remain in jail.

But isn’t AG Barr the cute one? He may actually believe that if you BS in the right tone of voice, no one will question it—but I find him neck-and-neck with King Ubu. Never before has anyone accepted that post on the understanding that his job will be to prevent the law.

Now, I don’t blame the media, per se—they are the fully-owned creatures of about four rich fuckers (tops—might be two). But they do abet the charade by pretending Republicans aren’t blowing it out their assholes, every time they respond to serious allegations against any of those traitorous scumbags.

I have taken a cue from my wife, who stopped watching TV news after the 2016 election. Rachel Maddow is remarkable by contrast with all the rest of it—a lone voice of reason and research—but sometimes even she is reduced to following the peer-telephone up BS creek.

So we have no social grapevine, like Johnny Carson or All In The Family, that can assure we’re all on the same page. We certainly have no Murrow, or Cronkite, to give us all the straight poop. We have to develop judgement of our own. We have to learn to look at rich people and ask, “What the fuck are you doing in public service, now that you’re old and out-of-shape? You think you’re a good leader because you’re used to giving orders? Get tha Fuck outta here!”

Tuesday, February 11, 2020                                             5:08 AM

We Assumed Victory   (2020Feb11)

Americans have always fought with each other. We fought with (and about) the Native Americans. We fought with those who thought we should be ruled. We fought with those who thought we should accept faith as law. We fought with those who thought we should accept prejudice. We fought with those who thought we should disrespect women. And none of these fights have ended.

Ever since we showed up here and started stealing their home, we have been entirely cold-blooded about slaughtering the indigenous people—and whoever survived the slaughter is treated, even today, as less than a person. Just this week, Traitor Trump decided to dynamite their sacred site to install a section of border wall.

Traitor Trump also demonstrated the flim-flam at the heart of organized religion when, at last week’s prayer breakfast, he questioned the “part about loving your enemies… I don’t know…” I’d quote the full sentence, if he ever talked in full or finished sentences.

The cowardice of the truly prejudiced is evident in the notion that a border, lain open for centuries, suddenly needs a steel barrier to protect us from the brown people. Traitor Trump is manifestly a troubled sicko.

Traitor Trump displays his disrespect for women most incisively by bringing his third wife, an Eastern European émigré, to the White House and somehow convincing her that First Lady isn’t a real job, and she needn’t bother fulfilling that role. But, mind, that’s only the tippy top of a humongously long list of panic attacks our Dear Traitor suffers over the thought of female empowerment.

So America has a new image. The home of the constant battle against ignorance, the land where ignorance is funded by the wealthy. Come the ‘80s, we were so close to winning the culture war (because it was a war against ignorance) that we assumed victory would just amble along. But ignorance is a tool of the wealthy—and Trump has made it a power-tool. And with last week’s Senate vote-of-denial, ignorance has regained the upper hand.

Thursday, February 06, 2020                                           10:54 PM

Big Picture   (2020Feb06)

Can we take a step back? Consider: All of the Republican’s/Trump’s tactics are based on circumventing the will of the majority. An honest election would be a fatal blow to the Right.

Thus the lying, the conspiracy theories, the phone-line-clogging, the e-mail hacking, the randomly false accusations, the extorting of Ukraine, etc.—the Republican Party virtually admits that they are opposed to Democracy, in both practice and theory.

No wonder their darling is a convicted fraud, who can’t speak without dishonesty mixing in with his ignorance. No wonder several of his closest associates are now in prison, for working with him. No wonder the Republican Party has had to historically disgrace itself, to keep up with him.

This is corruption and decline, pure and simple. Cable news seemed a good idea, at first. Now, its format is a proven stress-inducer—and all mental-health authorities recommend against watching that crap.

Political satirist have thrown up their hands, complaining that nothing they could invent comes close to the Dali-esque quality of Republican fact-alternatives and denied truths. Now, that may seem like a merely ironic nugget among the deluge of bad news—but again, Consider:

People whose job it is to exaggerate the issues-of-the-day to their most-ludicrous extremes—are being outdone by straight-faced, angry Republicans. Hate crimes have soared. The news reports that ‘everyone is happy with the economy’—but no one asked me, or my neighbors.

So, what are we voting for, when we vote Republican? Dishonesty? Criminality? Tax breaks for the rich? Nothing I’m wanting, that’s for sure….

Thursday, February 06, 2020                                           2:38 AM

We’re Wise   (2020Feb06)

I’ll tell you what happens if you watch too much stand-up: you stop laughing. The point of stand-up is to tell the truths that everyone else just naturally avoids saying. Whether we haven’t been clever enough to have seen life from that perspective, or if we’ve just avoided facing reality that objectively, the stand-up’s job is to rub something surprising in our faces.

As soon as I, the viewer, get the least bit tired, I start to hear stand-up as a litany of bitter truths—uncomfortable facts, being dwelt on for far too long. Comedy has to be a relaxation—people under strain aren’t prone to laugh.

I have become an expert in the overdoing of things. As a sick, old dude I have spent the last twenty years in bed, getter worse instead of better. As my activities become, year by year, ever more conscribed by failings in mind and body, the few occupations left to me have a tendency to get overused.

TV has to be at the top of that list. No other activity so perfectly matches a lazy blob. But now, I’m hypersensitive to bad TV—particularly any talking-head-type show where the agenda is the sponsor, not the journalism. I saw Edward R. Murrow on TV, myself—I don’t appreciate an entire channel devoted to lying.

At eight years old, I saw my favorite president get shot in the head—and his brains rolled off the trunk and into the fucking street. So I can handle Republican traitors, like those faithless Senators that voted a lie today. Come November, we’ll see just how far these oath-breaking dick-heads get, now that we’re wise to’em.

More recent FB Posts:

The Repumpsters are traitors–their agenda is to destroy the fed. govt.

With Trump as POTUS, yes, the obese addicted racist hate-broadcaster gets the PMOF

Monday, February 03, 2020                                             5:16 AM

Disappointment Is My Only Friend   (2020Feb03)

I was disappointed with the Media, when they made Trump a celebrity as a fat-cat who enjoyed saying “You’re fired!”—and even more famous as the spokesman for that racist ‘birther’ conspiracy theory.

I was disappointed with the Republicans, when they allowed him to run on their ticket—even though the only thing Trump has in common with them is that he is corrosive to human progress.

I was disappointed (first) by McConnell, when he went full racist, and denied a hearing for Obama’s SCOTUS pick.

I was immensely disappointed in the electorate, when they voted by the millions for that transparent, idiotic fraud, Trump—and even more disappointed in the Electoral College, which failed in being our failsafe against grossly unfit candidates who bamboozle the voters.

I was disappointed in Mueller’s ‘Special Investigation’, which was hardly what I would call ‘special’, or professional, for that matter. I was disappointed at the lack of outcry against the caging of child refugees, separate from their parents’ cages.

I was disappointed by the Senate recent admissions, both that they wouldn’t deny Trump’s criminality any longer, but that they would vote not to give a crap. Brett Kavanaugh, I think we can agree, was and remains a disappointment to us all.

So here I am, in the land of my birth, surrounded by people who don’t understand what America stands for—people who can’t even spot a flim-flam man when he’s laughing right in their faces. I’ve lost faith in the institutions, the communications, and the educations of my homeland.

I fear I now live in a greed-fueled slaughter-house, with an American flag pasted on the front of it, pretending we haven’t changed. Serious, straightforward issues, such as refuge, income inequality, gun violence, and climate disruption, are being ignored, while we discuss whatever simple-minded garbage our Networks and Platforms toss at us. They can’t resist Trump—because he’s a fount of simple-minded garbage.

I know that Americans can get mad. I know that great injustice, properly presented, can make every American rise and march as one. My greatest disappointment, I guess, is that I’ve yet to experience that reaction to our present political disaster. Why do we still find this mini-stroke mobster an acceptable head of state?

Sunday, February 02, 2020                                              1:28 AM

Ray of Sunshine   (2020Feb02)

If we had sensible legislation, McConnell would have been jailed as soon as he swore to refuse any compromise and kill any legislation, for so long as he helmed the Senate. That kind of mindless, partisan obstructionism has no place in that (formerly) august body.

When he guaranteed the outcome of Trump’s impeachment trial, before it began and in contradiction of the oath he was due to swear, he publicly disgraced himself in the same way. And this nonsense about not allowing any evidence into the trial—ha! Justice prevails, right?

So we have this confessed gangster as president, being tried by a bunch of fatuous cry-babies whose own sense of entitlement is threatened by their responsibility to remove such a publicly-corrupt disgrace from office. So, they’re not gonna do it—easy answer. Easy, that is, for a self-deluded traitor and waste of breath.

Never before in our history could there have been such a multitude which that epithet covered—POTUS, VP, the entire Cabinet (but especially Barr & Pompeo), more than half of all Senators, less than half of all Congresspersons, a couple of SCOTUS judges….

Then there’s the problem of the one-quarter of the voters who are actually ridin’ this guy’s crazy-train all the way to the end of the line. They are the real problem. Decades of Republican, dog-whistling divisiveness has created a bubble-land for these people to live in: a private info-feed of disinformation ‘news’, scary stories to keep them from mingling with other perspectives or cultures—even white nationalist clubs to join.

America has been ripped from our hands by liars and frauds. The Democratic party is a disgrace—but even their wishy-washy adherence to the Constitution, and the human rights it points towards, would be a ray of sunshine in the midst of Trump’s flushing of the whole thing down the crapper.

Friday, January 31, 2020                                          6:19 AM

Throwing It Away   (2020Jan31)

Democracy requires a modicum of common sense—not much, but some. I see now that the United States of America has exceeded its quota of assholes. We no longer have a sufficient number of people intelligent enough to execute a public office, rather than abuse it.

The Impeachment power should work without any problem. But when the President is an asshole—and the VP is an asshole—and the Attorney General is an asshole—and every Republican Senator is a righteous asshole—well, even our beloved Founding Fathers could never have imagined such a corrupt, fucked-up pack of crooks being elected into office, by the People.

The Democrats, usually the still, small voice of reason (comparatively) are being joined by a disillusioned Russian gangster and a nuke-crazy, war-monger Republican who didn’t get the memo about ABL (Always Be Lying). Which means that even the craziest Tea-Party zealot, should they be afflicted with chronic honesty, is having trouble singing along with the choir, at this point.

Unfortunately, as I’ve said, we’ve exceeded our quota. Our ratio of decent citizens to assholes has tipped over to equal that of the rankest, third-world, war-torn ass-end of the earth you could name. This is only partially due to the fuck-ups with ‘public education’ and ‘student-loan-slavery’. It’s mostly due to Americans becoming gigantic assholes, disrespecting all the social justice and enlightened inclusion our forebears worked so hard for, sacrificed so much for.

And we assholes are just throwing it away. O, and we’re letting them fry the planet too—but who cares?

Thursday, January 23, 2020                                              9:53 AM

Things Heard In Passing CNN:   (2020Jan23)

“After all, many of these Republican Senators will be hearing this information for the first time.” (If these Senators have refused to stay current on an issue they don’t like—right up until ‘D-Day’—that’s on them. Dereliction is no Defense.)

“The House Managers had better not be too derogatory—they’ll need at least some of these Republicans to vote with them, eventually.” (This reminds me of back when the ‘deplorable’s didn’t like their new nickname—too on the nose. We don’t need to sweet-talk the Republicans—we’ll be lucky if we can shame them into voting their conscience.)

In general, Democrats have been criticized for being too unfeeling towards the Republicans—calling them bigots, dupes, idiots. But I feel that they are equally at fault, for giving us good cause to describe them as bigots, dupes, and idiots. We would not be so rude, if those words were not so accurate.

Likewise, “Democrats have been trying to Impeach Trump since he took office.” That is only true because, even as a candidate, Trump was a confessed con-artist and pervert, and entirely unfit for the office. Democrats didn’t so much ‘run against him’ as beseech voters not to be so fully taken in by an obviously amoral creep.

And intelligence reports concerning Trump’s cabal’s connections to Putin and the GRU pre-dated Trump’s inauguration. So, it’s pure spin to complain that Trump has been under scrutiny his entire presidency. Yes, we’ve wanted to see him gone since day one, but—again—Trump, Barr, McConnell, et. al. are equally at fault, for giving us good cause to need Trump impeached and removed, from day one.

The Republicans would like to portray this Trial as the high-tide of some Democrat frame-up. That would be so much easier if they could refute any of the points on the House Managers’ timeline.

And still, CNN talks about “Is anyone listening to the Democrat’s message, yet?” That is such bullshit. They somehow equate ‘professionalism’ with lacking the balls to confirm an obvious fact, just so long as a single yahoo under the sun debates the point.

There is a distinction between preference and proof. You can belong to the Flat-Earth Society—but that only proves something about you—it doesn’t prove your preference.

Monday, January 13, 2020                                                10:44 PM

Indebting Our Young Collegians   (2020Jan13)

Armchair politicians like to snipe at Clinton’s Don’t-Ask-Don’t-Tell policy, here in the future. Back then, it was radical, it was the best he could get, and he took it rather than let it go.

This idea that our elected government is something we should gossip about and re-hash, rather than something which we are informed about, or not, is a very entitled, viewer-centric concept of our elected and appointed officials. That kind of perception makes it easy for the loudest voice to steer the narrative—and is hardly how civilized, intelligent people conduct themselves.

Infotainment, in general, is a Capitalist scourge that runs counter to every ideal but profit. It has empowered the corrupt and the dishonest—so long as their job title is newsworthy, any nonsense they spout will be repeated and legitimized by the media. I can think of one very prominent example.

America should not be falling apart, economically and socially—that’s just poor leadership. We should be flowering with innovation, welcoming immigrants, and daring to reach for challenges equal to that of our ancestors. We should not be under the sway of senile fat-cats—we should be taxing them. We should not be indebting our young collegians, we should be empowering them. When did America re-institute fucking slavery?

Tuesday, January 07, 2020                                                6:19 PM

Every Damn Day   (2020Jan07)

C-SPAN2 is underutilized—Non-Americans would have fits of laughter if this was streamed as a comedy series. The more partisan the Republican, the more hilarious the character is. It’s not that they are all poseurs—it’s that they are all so awkwardly, transparently poseurs.

We must admire the effectiveness of the Doubt Factories—they have paralyzed reform of any kind, in our nation for nigh-on fifty years, maybe more. The drawback is that our Conservatives are now living in a fact-denying bubble. All their unacceptable truths are blamed on the Left Wing Democrats, who are ‘just making it all up’.

It allows Republicans to speak idiocy with a straight face. Worse, it allows Republicans to become too comfortable with denying uncomfortable truths. The number and importance of denied facts has accrued to a startling dogpile—which now includes: defending a treasonously criminal POTUS.

These SenatoTrumpers have crossed the line. Their rabble-rousing might have worked in a darker time, say the 1930s, but I have been annoyed. If I have to be annoyed, so do these soft-soaping, hypocritical pick-pockets infesting our federal government.

There’s a reason they don’t allow Free Speech in many other countries—if a little guy like me gets really annoyed, he might just bitch on his blog—every damn day—for the rest of his life. And who knows? Someone might read it.

Sunday, January 05, 2020                                        3:10 AM

Don’t Get Me Started   (2020Jan05)

As a child, I had a skewed notion of what the world was like—I was assuming that it all, pretty much, matched our house and our family dynamic—and later on, our TV shows. My context of ‘the world’ has been broadened ever since, almost daily.

I know now that I can write nothing about which people will fail to have strong views. Anything I say will loved by some, hated by others—though my purpose is merely to avoid tedium or banality.

I started writing out my personal opinions and posting them on my blog several years ago. I had a great deal to say, at first. Now, I find it hard to say what I mean. Years of expressing myself have taught me that what I want and what is true are two different things—just as what I write may differ from what you read.

I’ve been thinking big-picture, you know? That thing with Viet Nam and the Pentagon Papers coming to light—all of us learning that the government had been sending boys to die over there, without any belief that their sacrifice would have value.

It was shocking and disgusting—our government failed spectacularly in their main job: to serve the people—and got thousands needlessly killed, maimed, and wounded in the process. Not to mention the pile of money they could just as well used to make a bonfire.

Nowadays, of course, when they tell us the same thing about Afghanistan and Iraq, we hardly blink an eye. It’s no different—it’s just as shocking and disgusting—it’s just not a surprise anymore.

Likewise, women couldn’t vote until the 19^th Amendment was ratified in 1920, one hundred years ago. Why (or How) women were seen as fit to raise children, but too feeble-minded to cast a vote, up until 1920—is hard to figure.

Nevertheless, women’s legal rights did not suddenly become equal to men’s. Margaret Sanger opened a birth-control clinic in 1916 and was promptly arrested, charged with ‘distribution of contraceptives’. Our ‘Comstock Laws’ lumped contraceptives in with dirty pictures and sex toys—and the birth-control and family-planning movements were major legal opponents of those who supported Comstock laws.

The 1950s discovery of the birth-control pill transformed the debate into a business transaction, giving contraceptives a reformed reputation among true capitalists. In the 1960s, it suddenly occurred to men that baby-proofed women might be fun. And by the 1970s, women had had it up to here.

Then you had Ruth Ginsburg and her 270 laws-discriminating-by-sex she got overturned, repealed, whatever. And I just watched a movie about the lawyer lady “Saint Judy” who, just recently, fought to have our Asylum Courts recognize ‘Women who fight for women’s rights’ as valid refugee-status claimants. This ended a terrible ‘dead-end’ for women at risk, but it is not the end of fatuous laws that enforce gender inequality (or binary-gender identities, for that matter).

You see where I’m going with this, right? Our government starts wars for no damn good reason—that’s insane. Our government has tried to shackle women for centuries—and still resists their full equality—and that’s also insane.

The Catholic Church, it turns out, has been normalizing and promoting pederasty, in addition to spreading the faith, in every Catholic country on Earth—for centuries. Apparently, forcing celibacy on people is unnatural—and invites a certain type of mental-health issue into those unnatural ranks.

The movie “Spotlight” made clear that pederasts have always been—and still are—in every Catholic Diocese, domestic or foreign—and that local civil authorities sometimes became entangled in the conflict between reputation and scandal, helping the church hide this corruption.

I remember being under the nuns’ care during childhood CCD classes—and encountering a priest or two after the children’s masses. They were definitely a hinky bunch, but my interactions always involved fear of cruelty—the clergy of St. Martin of Tours were really mean. Nobody ever made me feel like I was being intimately accosted—with our nuns, it was more like being attacked.

It’s odd to look back on that terror and think, I was one of the lucky ones—it’s ironic without being at all funny. Catholic priests, sadly, are not even the whole story. Sandusky’s Second-Mile scandal, and USA Girls Gymnastics Dr. Nassar’s scandal, make it clear that anyone teaching, training, or working closely with young people, as a profession, need (and should expect) much more monitoring by a third-party—a quality control, if you will.

To me, it all paints a picture of a society dumb enough to poison the Earth until we all die. We’re not done yet, no—but we’re well into it. Besides Greta, nobody seems to give a fuck—which makes us suicidally stupid. The only realistic public figures in our time are two teenagers, Malala & Greta. Ms. Yousafzai has actual grown past her teens, fighting for women’s right to education.

My problem is that these institutions, these pillars of our society, are all garbage. We continually try to push aside or abuse women, to ignore or abuse children—when women and children are the only things that have any real value (and I’ll grudgingly include men). Our TVs try to tell us that we got nothing more important to do than lay back and stare at the screen.

These ‘heads of state’ who make the Middle East a sandbox for their wargames and power-grabs and terrorist recruiting—and their opposites in the ‘free world’—love to point at a military ‘outbreak’ and shout, “Look! This takes precedence! Forget about everything else, until we’re done shooting—or talking about shooting.”

So don’t get me started on habitat-loss or population-doubling or acid oceans or economic-inequality—we are extremely close to proving that, as a group, as a species, we are too stupid to live.

If only we didn’t waste all our careful planning on profits and threat-scenarios, we might come up with some real great ideas—what with all the computers and new tech and all. But money and arms are all that matter, right? The ones with all the gold make all the rules?

And what about us patient liberals? Are we supposed to feel good about being right, when the proof is the whole world joining Australia in general conflagration? Are we supposed to respect people that lie to our faces? Are we supposed to watch news that promotes these liars? Why should we participate in this riot of ignorance and irresponsibility?

Friday, December 06, 2019                                               10:22 PM

Grand Old Party in Bad Faith   (2019Dec06)

Once Nixon resigned, the Republicans were in pretty bad odor, for a political party—between the Pentagon Papers, Nixon’s Enemies-List, & Watergate, their opposition to civil rights and women’s lib looked less like Conservatism and more like Racism and Misogyny. Scofflaw bigots don’t get many votes.

So, with Reagan began the Era of Republican BS. We find ourselves surprised by the fact that Nixon created the EPA—that’s how long it’s been since the Republicans have acted in a truly bipartisan spirit.

With Reagan came denial of the AIDS crisis, support for Extremist Evangelicals, deregulation of Banks, and the whole Iran-Contra scandal—a refutation of bipartisanship that has only grown with time. When Bush-41 came in, he made it abundantly clear that businesses (especially his friends’ businesses) took precedence over the will of the people.

When Clinton came in, they spent years impeaching him for a blow-job—as if the rest of Washington, D.C. were a pack of virginal choirboys—these are Republicans, remember. Hypocrisy jumped the shark with the Clinton Impeachment.

Need I enumerate the iniquities of Bush-43? Can’t we just leave it at: Allowed 9/11, Started first by-mistake War, Didn’t catch one terrorist in two terms, Caused financial crash? That was followed by Obama’s eight years, which displayed Republicans as bigots, liars (birtherism), and actors in bad faith (demonizing the ACA).

So this is a steadily rising tide of Republican hypocrisy, dishonesty, bigotry, misogyny, and bad faith. It attracts and unites some of the worst, most un-American citizens of this nation (not to mention small-time crooks) and picks as its leader the slimiest, cruelest, most dishonest among them: Trump.

And now Trump Tweets: “I don’t believe Nancy prays for me.” Talk about transference!  Charlie Manson’s cult of personal loyalty only had about a dozen. Jim Jones’ cult of personal loyalty only had a few hundred. But Trump’s followers number in the millions. It is the most successful attack on the US Government since Pearl Harbor.

And now some ‘moderate Democrats’ are talking about ‘alternatives to removal’! Sometimes I just wanna slap somebody….

Tuesday, August 20, 2019                                       8:37 PM

The Humane Thing   (2019Aug20)

Technology creates a world that requires sensible, responsible behavior. Humanity cannot be confined to sensible, responsible behavior. Thus it follows that we humans will misuse technology until we do something that cannot be reversed—and we all die.

It used to be theory. Now, it is staring us in the face. The Russians have created some kind of radioactive cloud (not for the first time) and the glaciers are melting in days, rather than years. Earth’s major coastal cities could be underwater in as little as five years. Heat waves and droughts are decimating global food production. Habitats are vanishing.

The question arises: What’s wrong with humanity? Why can’t we be confined to sensible, responsible behavior?

Well, for one thing, you can’t control reproduction. Anything we might do to regulate motherhood would make us less than human. But, more importantly, humans thrive under struggle and sicken under civilized luxury. Humans, like other animals, have their issues with captivity. And what is civilization but a set of rules repressing animal urges, a cage of communal behavior?

Civilized societies will never be able to defend themselves against harsh societies that keep humans on their more-animal level of hunger and violence. Which is why I always advocate world charity—if we let others starve, we’re just breeding terrorists that hate and resent our security and comfort.

But charity isn’t enough—education and public health maintenance are what lift a society into development. And it’s hard to teach children to be thinking persons when their parents have raised them to be ‘survivors’ of a dangerous environment.

Besides, human don’t even have the sense to share their wealth with their neighbors. One need not visit a third-world country. Go to New York City, go to a million-dollar-a-year luxury apartment—then step outside, to the hell-hole that has you tripping over homeless bodies.

We talk about being ‘humane’—that’s a stupid word—it’s not human behavior, it’s what human’s rarely do.

And males—being born of women and then turning up their noses at females, dead certain they’re stronger and smarter. Have you ever heard anything so stupid? Humanity is so suicidally mindless that it’s hard to believe we can be so smart as individual units.

Saturday, August 03, 2019                                                12:31 PM

Fun   (2019Aug03)

When I was sixteen, and my friends all laughed at me for taking stuff too seriously, I understood. Life is for living, nothing was ever achieved by worrying, etc., and so forth—I understand.

But we’re all in our sixties, now. I’ve got two subsequent generations that I feel a responsibility towards. Not to mention—I’ve had a very full life, lots of adventures, lots of ups and downs. If I was anxious to loosen up and have a little fun, I should have gotten to it by now—and I think I have.

Plus, our planet is on a hot plate. And our democracy is led by the kind of evil incarnate that usually requires a military dictatorship. And I’m old, I’m sick, and I’m in a lot of pain.

So, my response to all the ‘chill out’s, the ‘be cool, brah’s, and the ‘lighten up’s, is as follows: “Eat a bag of dicks.”

Besides, if you have matured to the point that you feel the intensity of intention and the passion of character—you know that I’ve been having ‘rad’-est possible life, all along….

Saturday, July 20, 2019                                            1:08 PM

They Hate Trump’s Country   (2019Jul20)

The funniest thing about Trump is when he forgets what a nightmare, bull in a china shop, foul-mouthed bully he’s been, and starts talking about someone else being a ‘disgrace’. This is where the limits of Trumpism start to show through.

Trump is so clearly unconcerned with anyone other than Trump, so quick to condemn others and excuse or deny his own wrongs, that he really should stay away from the more ethics-oriented insults and stick with straight belligerence.

This is a symptom of narcissism—Trump slams anyone who doesn’t observe ‘decorum’, while insisting that decorum doesn’t apply to him. That’s how he can curse, then call others foul-mouthed; he can lie and call others liars; he can joke at will (especially ‘after the fact’) but no one else gets any poetic license, nor any other escape from their exact syntax. It’s fair, ‘cause it’s unfair—get it?

Don’t confuse State & Religion, or Facts & Faith. Don’t confuse teachers with salespeople. A teacher teaches what they know—a salesperson tells you want they want you to think.

That is why someone such as Senator E. Warren can seem so earnest in her public speaking—and Trump equally so. They are both working very hard—at two different jobs.

Trump recently said of four Congresswomen, “they hate our country”. The use of the possessive ‘our’ is mad/genius. Trump lives in his own sick fantasy-world—and in that world, perhaps these ladies truly are enemies of his country.

Out here, in reality, they are vital components of our democracy—as indicated by the fact that all four were elected by the people in their districts. If Trump is under the delusion that those in Congress never criticize the Administration, he should crack a book.

If, however, his point is that women of color should never find the temerity to raise their voices in the direction of his fat white ass—that then, is a bigot of an orange color—as the saying goes. And that is clearly what that demented old cracker meant by his tweets and ‘comments’ at his nazi-rallies.

The Republicans stand behind this nightmare-of-an-ethics-quiz, because they share a delusion that ethics is embarrassing in their field—a sign of naiveté. They take their cue from Wall Street, where laughing at Justice is chapter and verse of their hierarchical tribalism.

The Democrats boldly commit hari-kari in the name of ethics, just to remind people that there is such a thing—look at Al Franken. But career suicide is a limited and unwieldly weapon—I don’t think the Dems get the credit they deserve.

Al Gore didn’t tear us apart for two years over his lost election—and HRC certainly had ammunition to go to court with, were she so self-involved—but she didn’t, either. By their acts ye shall know them.

Compare that to Republicans: the president, the cabinet, and the speaker of the senate (and his wife, in the cabinet)—a bunch of bald-faced scofflaws and scum, of which there never was such a collection of skin-crawling depravity and corruption. They are appalling—nothing else can be said of them.

Except that, for them (if not their country) those four Congresswomen should certainly be seen as their enemies—he’s got that much right.

Recent music:

Recent Poem & Illustration:

Saturday, July 06, 2019                                            7:46 AM

The True Nature of Art   (2019Jul06)

I’ve had a life-long struggle to understand the true nature of Art. In one way, I see art as an intuitive action being spurred by a sense of passion or grandeur. I’ve practiced ‘outsider’ or ‘neo-folk’ art all my life, with a few exceptions.

I see my quandary more clearly nowadays—native art and ‘artifice’ are as different as night and day. To grow beyond native impulse requires artifice—the grand painters and great composers of old were all accomplished in their craft. Their emotional manipulations were so effective that art, today, is an important investment—whether talking Disney copyrights, Prince’s catalog, or original Van Goghs.

I use the terms ‘artifice’ and ‘emotional manipulation’ because folk art is far more the candid expression of the maker’s feelings, through use of wood, paint, sound, etc.—whereas, serious artists recollect such impulses, whilst considering how to evince feeling from the audience, resonant with that experience or impulse.

Put simply, a folk artist is all heart, flailing at his opponent, while a pro is dancing about, considering where to place the next jab. One obsesses, the other succeeds.

Which calls to mind the category of ‘craft’—in craft, the maker’s love is for the process—the carver’s chair or the potter’s vase, while beautiful, are not works of pure art. Thus craftworks do not shout of love—they proclaim only the personality of the lover.

And I felt this limitation often—while drawing a picture or attempting a poem—that certain labors of love show the love—and some only show the labor.

Wednesday, July 03, 2019                                                12:10 AM

Conservative Talk   (2019Jul03)

This Fourth, Trump is having a Commie-style Phallus Parade down the middle of DC—and nothing would be sweeter than that it should include “Impeach!” signs and chants, all through the crowd. Maybe we could get some of that “Good people on both sides” action going? I kid—but seriously, Trump is a traitor to his Oath of Office.

Trump, like an abusive father, is nauseatingly cloying when he puts on his good-person mask and pretends to true, human feelings. In a way, Trump’s ‘celebratory’ speeches are his own personal ‘shit-eating grin’.

He’ll talk about ‘great things’ in a way that makes obvious he’s focusing on himself, as he expounds on said ‘greatness’—and on his comfort, knowing that reality continues to conform to his bratty little whims—at least, on FOXNews, and in the Senate.

The RNC just proclaimed it collected more Trump re-election campaign donation money, from more people, than any Democrat candidate. The Mad Media, still eager to parrot Trump’s tweets and lies, couldn’t wait to break the story.

But I take a longer view. I’m content to wait until it’s exposed as bullshit ‘accounting’, possibly even an illegal conspiracy to launder foreign cash through domestic citizens (you know, like they’ve done in several elections, including 2016).

And who can blame them?—in a world this wired, a Conservative has little purchase on reality. To some extent, a modern Conservative supports Armageddon as their endgame—it’s the only result that won’t exclude them, making them obsolete; won’t blame them for a climate disaster; and won’t ask them to modify their ideas of who deserves respect.

But let’s be honest—once desperation reaches such extremes, only extremists hang on. And extremists make an extremely loyal voter-base, especially if they’re kept just as poor and miserable as possible. Catch-22 doesn’t confine itself to the military.

Monday, June 17, 2019                                            9:47 PM

I Vote Maybe   (2019Jun17)

Our governments wait until things go wrong, then, argue over what to do. I’d like a lot less telling me what I’m not cleared to know—and a lot more telling me what the hell they’re doing to earn their salaries and, more importantly, my vote.

How come I’m in my sixties and my government is still without any solutions for any number of problems which presented themselves when I was a young schoolboy, decades ago? That’s not government—that’s a protection racket.

I hear reports of studies showing that our government responds not to voters, but to lobbyists and contributors (as if you can find daylight between those two things). This seems to have evinced no shame, nor reaction of any kind, from elected officials.

This disconnect between our vote and our influence is as disabling as a lack of democracy itself. Elections cannot be PR battles, with one side fighting truth with lies—or, worse yet, both sides inventing their realities.

Elections have to go back to policy promises, and whether or not they are kept. Otherwise, we can just skip the popularity contest and let the fat cats have their way—that philosophy has been marching us all toward perdition since the 1980s. Why stop now?

Can we really be in the 21^st century, when humanity is in danger of global habitat collapse, just from our peace-time activities, and we have a crazed con-man for president—and he thinks the world is still small enough to take an extra war or two. When do I wake up? Is all mankind’s genius to be laid in the laps of drooling troglodytes?

Sunday, March 24, 2019                                          6:35 PM

Watch Your TV Show   (2019Mar24)

There’s a running cliché among today’s politicians: ‘We can’t get anything done if we don’t get elected (or re-elected) first’. They devote huge amounts of time to fund-raising phone calls. They basically have to buy in to the popularity-contest aspect of politics—and tell themselves that Election itself is axiomatic.

If, however, we remember that everyone is replaceable, we can imagine a candidate that cares more about what he or she stands for, and plans for, than whether or not they get elected. Wouldn’t it be funny if a candidate won on the issues alone—sans PR wave, sans stadium rallies and hat sales?

How, you may ask, would they rebut attack-ads without any media budget? They wouldn’t. They would tell reporters it wasn’t true (or was true) and hope that people saw a smear-job when one was aired. They would use the Internet and Facebook to make public statements and forward policies, for free. Voters would say to themselves, “At least this person isn’t wasting millions on worthless commercials”.

Would they lose? Sure. They already have been losing—although, on that score, I’d have to say our third-party candidates are all one-trick ponies, equally unprepared to address the problem of modern democratic self-governance. But the real question is: Would they always lose?

Can people learn to look at the results after elections, instead of focusing on the empty campaign rhetoric before elections? Why even have campaigns, when everyone knows that rule one is: ‘Say anything—no one expects you to follow through’?

I have to laugh when I see pundits on cable discussing what the voters will be sensitive to, or averse to, from Democratic candidates. This after half the country didn’t vote, a quarter voted for a pervert, and slightly more than a quarter voted for HRC, who ‘lost’ anyway! How can anyone look at Trump and, with a straight face, say that any Democrat is too far in the other direction? Or, for that matter, how can any democracy led by Trump claim any judgement at all in its voters?

Voters? More like little children, being lied to and led down the primrose path to destruction. America’s success has made its people lazy and ignorant—and America’s rich and powerful are corrupting that success into a sleazy money pit we’ll all be screaming to emigrate from, soon enough. Go on, go back to watching your TV show. What do you care?

Thursday, March 14, 2019                                                3:30 PM

Entitled To   (2019Mar14)

If I harbor bigotry deep in my secret self, I need to remember that I am no better or worse than those whom I condescend to. Whatever disdain I have for others, I had better be prepared to feel that same disdain for myself, at some point. If I feel entitled to impose on others, it is only a matter of time when I’ll find myself being imposed upon against my wishes, or even my consent.

In other words, if I find myself a Trump supporter, cheering on his willful ignorance and code-word hatreds, I must be prepared for him to be impeached, for he, and his family and friends, to all go to prison, and for Democrats to take control of political power for the next year or two.

But do not fret. The Republicans survived Nixon, Iran-Contra, opposition to Women’s Lib, Civil Rights, Gay Rights, and most other humanitarian memes, Dubya’s ‘Whoops’ War, the 2008 Financial Disaster, and Nazis in Charlottesville. People will forgive Republicans anything—they save their bitterness for Democrats’ failings.

Pussy-Grabber himself will ultimately fade from our daily lives—only to be replaced by even more insidious evils and more unconscionable elitism. The world moves ever forward, in its good—and its bad.

The only thing that really excites me is the possibility of someone who can make voters support a positive change—against all the partisan lie-mongering and media over-dramatization and late-night comedians’ glib dismissals—to fire the minds of all voters, at least enough to get them to show at the polls every year for the next ten years—‘appointment politics’.

Not like Trump—not with crowd-pleasing, simple-minded shit from a bull—but with algorithmic goals meant to better everyone, in spite of all news-items and conversational currency bouncing from day to day. Plans for workable and enforceable transparency in government, plans to rein in corporate entitlement—and replace with workable regulation and enforceable compliance—particularly in Finance and Petroleum. Maybe even a National Board of Science that can settle down some of this pesky, flat-earther-level, willful ignorance. I don’t know…. psychotherapy for the Trumps? There’s a lot of good waiting to be done—waiting for the greedy status quo to take their hands off our throats.

Monday, March 11, 2019                                        2:50 AM

Taken Advantage Of   (2019Mar11)

Notice how the media and the Republicans are already poisoning the well of the Democrats’ field of 2020 presidential candidates? They show poll figures that purport to overwhelming support of the ‘moderates’, Biden or Booker. They ‘explain’ that the country is afraid of going too far left.

I call bullshit. First of all, any constituency that can vote in Trump has lost all credibility in terms of judgement or moderation. Secondly, if the Dems roll back the recent Tax Bribes to the Rich, they can spend trillions on infrastructure and social services like health care—and it won’t be very much different, economically (except for a few moping billionaires and CEOs).

I kid, of course. The trouble with Democrats is that they will actually take responsibility for the national budget—and roll back those new tax-cuts without spending as much in the left-ish direction. And the Republicans will have no trouble depicting any plans to pay for liberal programs as an attack on Capitalism. (It’s ridiculously easy to be the bad guy.)

But let’s discuss it. AOC suggests taxing billionaires on their net worth. I can hear the wheezing laughter of old white men in their leather club chairs—yet consider this: 99% of the people in this country live on their net paycheck. Their salaries virtually are their families’ net worth—and they certainly get taxed on it.

There is nothing that says Capitalism is required to be unfair. Why should the super-rich’s assets remain undisturbed just because they have more than anyone else? In a way, this is actually stupid. So why do we laugh at AOC’s notion? Not because she’s wrong—but because the rich make the rules in this democracy.

It’s bad enough the fat cats have all the power of money. Why do we insist on voting only fat cats into all the authority of elected office, as well? Do we like being taken advantage of? Is that it?

Sunday, March 10, 2019                                          5:29 PM

Day After Women’s Day   (2019Mar10)

I been thinking about how many ways women have had to fight. They had to fight to wear pants. To smoke a cigar. To own property. To inherit property. To have a job. To vote. To walk alone in public. To have a bank account. To get fathers to financially support their own deserted children. To get this job-women-can’t-do; to get that job-women-can’t-do; to get the other job-women-can’t-do.

You’d think men would be embarrassed by their terror at the thought of female agency. You’d think men would have the sense to include women in their ruling over the earth—two heads always being better than one—and a heterosexual pair being among the most deadly powerful examples of that aphorism. But men are people—and that means we are fucking idiots.

Look at the current Congressional Hearings on changing the military’s code with respect to male superior officers who use that code to get away with rape, etc. Now, if you’ve seen even one tenth the amount of action movies I have, you know how the U. S. military invariably emphasizes its Honor, especially during training and indoctrination.

So where is the honor in sexual assault? How can any soldier commit it? How can any of the others abide it? So, is the ‘Honor’ stuff bullshit—or is it poor training and indoctrination?

And how can we trust these animals to protect us—when they don’t even protect their own? It’s just common sense. But you watch that hearing and you’ll see an ocean of minutiae and a phalanx of obstructors ready to explain why you’re wrong to worry—but that’s just par for their course, isn’t it?

And, No, I am not bashing the military—I’m bashing the corrupt government mismanagement of our military. When the military was told to go diverse, they went diverse—they are not the problem. They just need a strong voice giving them orders—orders manifestly based on human dignity.

And wouldn’t it be wonderful, if we had such a thing in our government, as well? Wouldn’t it be incredible to have leaders who told big business and the banks to wait and see, to have leaders who told refugees: the more the merrier, to have leaders who told us what we needed to hear, trusting us to understand the difference between a scary problem and the person who points the way out.

A leader like that might finally give women their last victory: agency over their own bodies. Ooooo…Scary! Maybe next International Women’s Day….

Sunday, March 10, 2019                                          1:44 PM

God Loves You   (2019Mar10)

The God that you believe in loves you dearly and has infinite mercy. But there is an important problem here on Earth that only you can fix. I’ve never discussed your God before, because I don’t pretend to know anything about God. But there are tons of people who will tell you about God until they’re blue in the face—as if they knew more than you or I.

There are biblical scholars that know more about the bible or the torah or the quran, but that doesn’t make them God experts. The plain fact is that no one is a God expert. Also, no one has returned from the after-life with a clear description—so no one can lay claim to After-Life expertise, either.

We can know only what our senses tell our brains. God and the after-life, by their very definition, have no evidence—so they are unknowable. You can have faith in God, but you cannot know God. Therefore, everyone and anyone who talks with ‘authority’ about God’s will—is fooling themselves or (far more likely) fooling you.

We face the unfortunate evidence that what attracts many to ministries is the ‘authority’ vested in them by ‘Godliness’—used by religious leaders the world over, to prey upon innocence, inveigling others into sex and terrorism.

How can I stop them? How can we? Aside from having ‘god’s backing’, religions are also performing the vast majority of our charity-work, helping the homeless and feeding the hungry every day.

I just wish I could tell everyone that, by and large, your priest or preacher is just a human being, trying to make their way through this life, fighting with the same demons that attack us, subject to the same weaknesses.

They do not love you. Only God loves you—and it is in God alone you should put your faith. Your own conscience is not inferior to anyone else’s–don’t let others define Goodness, for goodness’ sake. You were born knowing.

Sunday, March 03, 2019                                          7:18 PM

Come Off It Already   (2019Mar03)

The list of the confessed, the convicted, the security-risks, and the nefarious connections among Trump’s campaign inner circle, paired with Trump’s well-documented history as a litigious scofflaw and a bigot—all make it outlandishly desperate that Republicans based their rebuttal of Cohen’s testimony on simply calling him a liar—a crime he has already confessed to committing at the president’s behest.

This is the point where the old strategy of ‘deny everything’ begins to jump the shark—where they must split the hairs of Cohen’s dishonesty while pretending Cohen wasn’t acting as Trump’s professional liar. It also raises the bar for insulting the public’s intelligence.

Still, the media have decided that nothing is insulting to the public’s intelligence, if only it’s sensational in its stupidity. There was a time when both the media and the Republican party would have conceded the obvious by now—if not long before now.

Yet they speak of a possibility of a veto against Trump’s spurious ‘emergency’, rather than being well into the impeachment proceedings. I wondered why, but then I knew: the crowded cast of characters, the countless crimes, the uncountable lies, the complications of foreign involvement and probable treasonous activity, the interference of Russian agents and Republican efforts to social-engineer Hillary’s public condemnation—there is more plot to Trump’s  ‘presidential’ crime than there is in all the seasons of ‘Thrones’.

Hassan Minaj’s “Patriot Act” just did an episode on Trump’s Cabinet’s attack on Civil Liberties. Trump is not alone in his efforts to dismantle our democracy and end our freedoms. And hate must be a strong motivator—we can only hope that the following Administration will work nearly as hard to undo all the damage. Sadly, they will have a much harder job rebuilding than was Trump & Co.’s job of just torching everything they could reach.

Worse, the vile horror that is Trump distracts us from an equally threatening situation—a Democratic party that is only slightly less flawed than the drooling pigs presently seated at the table. We are tempted to assume that the opposite of Trump is Good—but just because the Democrats oppose Trump doesn’t mean they’re offering a coherent vision of America’s future.

Green Deal?—Fine. But you don’t get genius-points for finally recognizing scientific findings from the last half-century of warnings. Fighting climate change will be more about diplomacy than technology—global cooperation and unity will be vital. Simply accepting the overdue reality is an abysmally small first step.

And what’s with this crowded field of candidates for 2020—is this a frickin’ Dickens novel? If the Democratic Party is an organized group, don’t they feel as if deciding on a platform, and choosing the best among them to represent it, would be an excellent demonstration of their ability to unite and organize the nation? Or do all politicians simply start campaigning these days, as soon as the fundraising potential appears?

If all those war-chests got passed down to the remaining candidates, as each drop-out left the race—then one could make the case that this was something other than the monetization of politics. But that is not what happens. Whoever raises the money, keeps the money—if I’m not mistaken. And suddenly we’re polling the dollars spent, instead of the voters’ minds.

We had tough restrictions on money in campaigns for centuries—should we be worried that the Citizens United decision was immediately followed by the election of a historically total scumbag to the presidency?

I dunno. It’s dawning on me that, whoever wins, you and I will lose—until people start getting mad about dishonesty again, like they used to.

Monday, February 18, 2019                                             6:26 PM

Trump is Not President   (2019Feb18)

Trump is not being a president. He usurped the office through a massive con, but he has never understood the job and he has never done the job. While holding the office, he has attacked our nation, its government, and its people—but he has never served one day as the President of the United States. And that is because he isn’t just unfit—he’s incapable of understanding the office.

I am tired of people pretending that this is just a different way of doing things—‘different’ and ‘wrong’ are not synonymous. I’m tired of this whole disgraceful farce.

The voters are careless and uninformed—but you’d never know it from the zeal they bring to any shouting match regarding the day’s issues. They’re not much for reasonable discussion—but, boy-howdy, don’t they love to argue.

The media have gone from a public service to a transmitter of mental disease. I’m sick of these nattering nabobs of news—no better than Bozo the Clown at keeping the public informed.—pretending that the distractions of each individual day are the equivalent of information, pretending that they’re objective, pretending that disgraceful criminal is just ‘45’, no different from the 44 preceding statesmen who actually held the office and did the job.

The elected officials are 90% craven opportunists, with a leavening of idealists who suffer the inexorable failure of decency in the face of overwhelming hypocrisy. Politicians, judges, detectives—these folks are not geniuses—recent evidence indicates that we can’t even describe these people as honest, by and large.

Traditions of hate and superstition are joined by our natural impulse towards selfishness and procrastination. While our world fills up with science, invention, and technology, it fails to reject old problems. Injustices remain institutionalized, science only complicates the issues. And the only progress we really need to make, is to become a mature society—something more reasonable than a mob.

Until then, we are at the mercy of the worst of us, including the present POTUS. I’m starting to think that Democracy fails in most countries because it is flawed—I think the USA ran for two centuries on responsibility, not democracy. Politics isn’t the same as statesmanship. Ruling isn’t at all the same as governing. And, most of all, money and value are not the same thing.

Wednesday, February 06, 2019                                       9:52 PM

We Can’t Have It Both Ways   (2019Feb06)

Here’s the thing about people: In Vincent Van Gogh’s time, people lacked the wit to appreciate his art. We think of this today as a factoid that adds value to the tremendous worth of each painting. But in Van Gogh’s life, it meant that everyone thought they were a better judge of painting than he was. And this included respected, professional art-critics.

They were wrong.

Everyone who resented hippies throughout the sixties believed that they were being patriotic Americans. Today, we know about the Pentagon Papers—we know that the Viet Nam debacle was a hideous case of our government not being patriotic to us. We know that, while the hippies wrongheadedly berated returning veterans, the anti-war protests helped curtail the number of veterans who never returned—and increased the number of young men who would never become veterans.

They were confused.

Capitalism has made America great. It has done its job a little too well. We now have billionaires living mere yards from the poor—and so cleverly are our cities designed that no billionaire is significantly disturbed by the suffering of everyone around them. Of course, in rural areas, wealth requires fencing and guards. Only in crowded cities can the wealthy rely upon the zeitgeist to protect them from everyone else.

They aren’t scared.

People think that whatever society has been doing for a couple of years, is the way things have always been and will always be. People assume disaster will not strike, but they will confine themselves in straitjackets to avoid taking a risk. People can design five-stage Mars landers and then turn around and stub their toes.

Intelligence flits in and out, but dumb animality is the steady pulse behind all mentation.

I’ll tell you how I know that I’m right and the Trumpsters are deluded: I’m not getting any satisfaction out of this. This isn’t fun for me. I am not riotously celebrating the return of incivility. I’m simply resisting out of survival instinct. Reporters ask those glassy-eyed rednecks, on line for a rally, “Why do you believe Trump?” They invariably focus long enough to smirk, “I don’t really believe him, I just like his style.”

All they know for sure is that Trump will never correct their grammar or their addition—Trump will never tell them that they should read a book. Here in the 21^st century, a guy like that is priceless. He won’t ask you to memorize your Social Security number, he won’t ticket you for parking in the handicapped zone, and he doesn’t give a damn if there’s Human Growth Hormone in your kids’ milk.

I began to write computer programs in the eighties—an early adopter who’s woefully behind the present. One striking memory that stays with me was the day I realized that a single typo, anywhere in the code, made the whole thing garbage. There is no mistake so small that a computer will ignore it.

People, OTOH, don’t like to ‘sweat the small stuff’. Historically, that has been human wisdom. That’s why it struck me—and stuck with me—to realize that could never apply to computers. That is their terror.

The monstrosity of two blips on an air-traffic-controller’s screen, meeting, then ceasing. If you’re not watching the screen closely, you won’t even see it happen—but your awareness, or lack of it, changes nothing about the two jetliners carrying hundreds of people, exploding into tragedy.

Trump and his ilk are sales hacks—they will never stoop so low as to sweat the small stuff—and we admire such bravado. But there is a choice we are all pretending we don’t have to make: we can concern ourselves with the small stuff and have a futuristic, global civilization—or—we can go on with the sloppy thinking and science-denying of the freakin middle ages.

We can’t have it both ways.

When your computer tells you that coastal cities will all flood in ten years, you can just buy a new computer. When disaster arrives, we can go back to caves. Or die out completely. Either way, the last 10,000 years will have been flushed down the toilet. But, hey, don’t sweat the small stuff.

Wednesday, February 06, 2019                                       5:58 AM

Government Is Not the Same As Business   (2019Feb06)

I have a new ‘guess’ about the mystery of the divided country. Conservatives, Trumpsters, whatever: I bet if you asked a Liberal if they accepted that there’s plenty of corruption in business, they would agree. In business, wheels are greased and corners are cut, because it’s people that are doing the transactions—and people are human.

Liberals are not so naïve as to imagine that businesses don’t do whatever they can get away with—in some sense, that’s the nature of Capitalism. (And listen as hard as you can, you won’t hear any Liberals calling for an end to Capitalism. Liberals want social programs, not Social-ism.)

But Liberals (and one would hope, Conservatives) see government as distinct from business. Government is not the same as Business. Government is not the same as Business. I’d type it again if I thought it would help.

Democratic Government is intended to support and protect all of its citizens equally. It is not a for-profit ‘outfit’—that’s why they take taxes. And Government, like business, is performed by people—those same, imperfect humans. So, there is corruption in Government, too—and ignorance.

Government, however, without its standards of equality and justice, is like a business without money—it has zero value. The recent shutdown displayed peoples’ understanding that their civil service was about more than their salaries. The elected Government showed little of that.

I think there is something else, too, something we all have to absorb. The 21^st century is full of traffic, weapons, toxins, and misinformation. Don’t hate Liberals if we take to the electronics and the science a little quicker than you—but don’t kid yourself that only nerds need to know this stuff, either.

Trump is dumb as a sack of rocks—and most of those Republican yahoos in Congress aren’t far behind him. If you like Trump because he’s dumping on science and intelligence—you’re in for a rude awakening. Look around you. It’s the F-ing future.

Monday, February 04, 2019                                             6:24 AM

Profound Debasement   (2019Feb04)

I can’t defend the racism of Virginia’s governor, nor do I wish to. But I will say that the timing of this ‘discovery’ of an 80’s yearbook photo is particularly auspicious, considering that racism in a governor, if sufficiently ballyhooed about, helps mask treason and corruption in a president—for several news-cycles, it seems.

It makes me wonder if, among the Republicans’ many cynicisms, there is a list of available dirt that they keep on Democrats—not to bring them to justice, but just to release, as a diversion and for the appearance of parity, whenever their own corruption becomes too massive to overlook.

The fact that the Democrats are human is unfortunate—it’s so easy for Republicans to equate human failings with their own profound debasement. My advice to Democrats is to run lean—Republicans make more hay from an unofficial email server than Democrats could from 1^st-degree murder—so keep it tight.

First and foremost, decide between yourselves who can best carry forward the Democratic agenda—don’t have thirty candidates for president—that just makes you look sloppy. Have all those people out there, and in media—sure—but have them all pulling for a certain goal, not an amorphous concept.

Secondly, begin impeachment proceedings. What are you waiting for? Another secret meeting between Trump and his Kremlin puppetmaster? Trump has crossed lines in several directions—high crimes and misdemeanors that Republicans would like to ignore (like emoluments and campaign violations) that do not require waiting for Mueller’s final indictment. Trump has flooded the system with his sludge—start clearing the backwash now.

Yeah, yeah, the Virginia governor is a racist—oh my stars and garters—and right there in the heart of the old confederacy—can you believe it?! Yes, I can believe it—and I don’t care. The media can whore for eyeballs all day long—but that makes it too mindless to keep its perspective.

People always say, ‘write your congressperson’, but in this case we should start writing our network and cable news-CEOs, telling them to get off the dime. It’s time they found a way to sell their sensationalism without endangering our democracy. Besides, I should think they’d feel shame at being such a tool for people like Trump. It’s embarrassing.

Thursday, January 24, 2019                                              9:16 PM

Spoiled Brat Of A President   (2019Jan24)

The same logic that allowed Citizens United to equate money with speech could just as well equate money with firearms. And while Americans have the right to bear arms, they do not have the right to discharge them at will—not, that is, until “Citizens United v. FEC” (2010).

Beyond the ethical solipsism of the wealthy deciding that cash is free speech, there is the obvious, but unaddressed, issue of fairness. How can it be fair that the rich have more ‘speech’ than the poor? Is this not the very definition of disenfranchisement from a democracy, based on wealth?

It has occurred to me lately that the rich are getting way too big for their britches. Their incurable greed-lust can’t be turned off, even after it has accomplished whatever object it may have begun towards. Hence income-inequality.

In a rational society, the wealthy would take care to maintain their surroundings—both the landscape and the human resources. Today’s wealthy go mindlessly forward—acquire, acquire. They don’t do maintenance—and they’re too cheap to hire someone else to do it. No, they get at the government and make it stop serving the people, just to count coup—it’s heedless monomania these fat cats suffer from.

This is how all the empires fell. Things got too good. People took too much for granted. Greed and Self, gnawing away at a grand phenomenon that had grown strong through adversity. Success breeds spoiled children. America’s success has bred a spoiled brat of a president.

Monday, January 21, 2019                                                5:04 PM

Happy MLK Day   (2019Jan21)

Martin Luther King Day makes my heart hurt, as a whitey. People that looked like I do came to this place and murdered virtually everyone here. Then they kidnapped Africans and held them in slavery for centuries. We had our bloodiest war fighting each other, ending slavery. But that didn’t end the mistreatment and indignities visited upon African-Americans. It continues to this very moment—in, to name just one example, the fact that some states choose to ignore Martin Luther King Day.

I am too short-tempered to be a follower of the Rev. Dr. King—but anyone can be awed by his courage. I have spent a lifetime regretting my ethnicity—I would prefer not to be associated with white people. I know that sounds racist—but I can’t even hear the term without cringing. I never thought of myself as a color—nor anyone else. The fact that it can bring the ignorant to violence and crime, through a cultural lore of hatred, has always frustrated me.

The thing I always liked most about Martin Luther King, Jr.’s speeches was when he included me in his dream—he understood that hatred was a threat to friend and foe alike. He saw that white people cripple themselves and their children with hatred, beyond what it does to the intentionally persecuted.

I also loved King’s clear thinking—he didn’t lecture us on what was right—he confronted us with what was true. And his lessons, and those of his inspiration, Gandhi, teach us about more than bigotry. They teach us that whatever blurs our sight of the truth is a greater threat than a comfort.

Monday, January 21, 2019                                                2:41 PM

Uncle Sam, Get Yer Gun   (2019Jan21)

Trump is an enemy of the United States of America. Trump is an ally of Russia—or wherever might takes the place of right. Trump has shut down our government over a lie. There is no national security emergency at the southern border—and the humanitarian emergency there is of Trump’s own making.

Mitch McConnell and other Republican Senators don’t have the moral fiber to impeach him for lying (and general unfitness). They don’t even have the wits to override Trump’s veto on the shutdown.

So, which is worse? We have a president with a vacuum at his moral center—and a Senate without a single vertebra between them. The Media persists in framing the shutdown as two sides arguing—but the reality is that, while we all play politics, Trump is fighting a civil war.

People have already died (including children)—and as our crippled government hobbles along, many more will become victims of Trump’s attack upon our homeland.

My initial concern was over the erosion of our ethics and ideals—but with the shutdown, it becomes clear that Trump is an actual physical threat—not just to those seeking asylum here, but to the citizenry. Trump isn’t just outrageous anymore—he’s not just an embarrassment. Trump is an enemy of the state.

Saturday, January 12, 2019                                               1:27 PM

American Snowflake   (2019Jan12)

Sexism

Racism

Religious Extremism

Demonizing journalism

Scoffing at the Law

Dishonesty

We have seen the celebration of all the above faults under a Trump administration. We have endured ridicule for being overly precious about our ethics and our sense of fairness. We hear our Media give the White Nationalists every exposure and legitimacy—as if they were simply another ‘side’ of the story. We see our Supreme Court packed with predators.

Now we can say: yes, it does matter. Not only do the above failings mark a person as ignorant and without conscience. These failings now present themselves as backdoors for America’s enemies.

Where we once tolerated bigots, mashers, and white-collar criminals—in the spirit of inclusion—we now see that we can’t afford the risk to our national security on anti-American sentiments. In a global society, rife with YouTube recruitment and state-run hacker-co-ops, Americans must be fully American.

When we see racist or sexist Facebook posts, we must assume the poster to be treasonous, probably Russian. When some bible-neck puts Jesus before our Constitution, we must assume they are a mole from some primitive theocracy, like Saudi Arabia. And when someone shuts down the entire government for no clear reason at all—that man is a traitor. He should be tried and hung, while we still have our flag flying.

Monday, December 17, 2018                                           12:34 PM

Republicans Are Waiting For Christmas   (2018Dec17)

What did Trump call his alleged felonies? ‘popcorn stuff’? ‘chicken feed’? ‘smock and mirrors’? Well—I guess that ‘lock her up’ guff is only one-way. (Or is it only one-gender?)

The Border Patrol Gestapo failed to save a 7-year-old refugee girl in distress—then excused their neglect by saying “she shouldn’t have been taken on a long trip without adequate food and water”. Turns out, the poor child had sepsis—something outside the assumptions of the prejudiced and, therefore, missed at the time.

Are we done yet? Can we admit that, annoying as they may be, those intelligent, educated people gave us a feeling of security and stability that no circus clown or reality-TV star can offer? When can the media go back to dismissing fools without giving them air-time? When can we all agree that this presidency is our lowest, most embarrassing moment for democracy—the day we found out it had its weaknesses?

The trouble being: democratic voters are not supposed to be selfish and uninterested—and candidates for democratically-elected office are not supposed to be poll-driven. They are supposed to lead us through the unpleasant but necessary solutions to injustice—not beg corporate lobbyists for money, and then conspire in corruption.

And let me point out, to all those who still support the concepts of ‘alternate news’ and ‘alternate facts’: if the country were blind to the truth, all this time, it could hardly have maintained its economy and military, such as they are.

That is to say, I have beef with our economic model and our current economic laws and policies—but no matter how I feel about it, America has the most stable, yet most robust economy (per capita) of any nation in the world. I think its paradigm is obsolete and its zeitgeist is cold-blooded, but it’s still doing it better than any other country.

Now, I hear you contradicting—but let me say this. Russia has a warlord economy. Or it could be updated—call it a mobster economy. It doesn’t respond to market pressure—or, rather, when it does, it is not an organic response, but imposed. And China—well, China has billions of people and half the world’s real estate. Even pre-industrial China had enough land and labor to compete in world markets—not that they ever wanted to, until recently.

If (to put it another way) all of China was run like New York State, the size and power of their economy would outshine all others, like the daylight the stars. But it has more to do with intent than with the specific laws and rules.

When America first rebelled, its new government had a very ‘we inmates are in charge of the asylum now’ feel to it. And the American culture matched that, with brash openness and a willingness to try new things that seemed very incautious to Old-World-ers.

Frontier living showed Americans the importance of mutual support and community—crooks were dealt with harshly, but honest businesses were points of pride for growing towns and counties. This attitude of a rising tide lifting all boats was not homogeneous or unanimous—but it was prevalent.

Europe’s, and the rest of the world’s, cultures evolved from the starting point of survival of families and tribes—and even at their most sophisticated, family ties and insular clubs remained the foci. American settlers struck out in large groups—and their survival was based on the good of the group, from the beginning of the first voyage.

But it is not so much the size of the larger coherency—it is the fact that even the least member had a job, an importance, on which everyone relied—and the reciprocal respect that came with that was the seed of individual liberty, as a cultural concept, rather than a broadsheet debate.

It is only now, centuries later, that elitism begins to creep back into America. Our goal-oriented ancestors would be mortified: People saying ‘I don’t care if Trump lies—I still support him’; Senators saying ‘I don’t care if Trump broke the law—I still support him’; Lawyers saying ‘Yes, I was dirty—but I had no concept of dirty until I worked for Trump’.

Unearned respect—this is something America never gave, until now. America has always been quick to knock down its idols—at the first sign of weakness. Now, they’ve raised an idol whose super-power is weakness: dishonesty, criminality—even treason. And greed. And lechery.

But the ones who are really getting away with murder are the Senate—the Republican-held Senate that denied Merrick Garland his due and then, for spite, gave it instead to a drunken frat-boy rapist. The GOP-majority Senate that has ‘pretended’ to investigate Trump for two years, found nothing, and made no comment on the eight indicted members of Trump’s circle who have already pled guilty, or been convicted.

These Senators believe in elitism—otherwise, they would feel shame.