Yes, Of Course, It's the GUNS!

The nonsense-jabbering, right-wing apologists for the GUN LOBBY DEATH MACHINE want to point the blame anywhere but the guns. But of course, it is all about the guns...

When we talk about RED FLAG LAWS, am I the only one who thinks that owning & lusting after Assault Weapons is a major red flag in itself? If you are a Human Being who has convinced yourself you need to own Assault Weapons, you are exhibiting, manifesting an illness. Pretty simple and straight-forward.

A few pertinent questions from this amateur, self-educated "head-shrinker:"

Are you one of those folks (primarily, almost exclusively young, alienated USA males) hoarding and stockpiling Assault Weapons?

Do you fantasize about death and destruction? Do you get a dopamine kick firing off one of those weapons? Do you fantasize about the apocalypse? Of Jack-booted Authorities knocking at your door? Do you fantasize about a bloody race war in the streets of USA? Do you hate human beings? Do you hate yourself? Do you fantasize about killing yourself or others? Do you hate anyone different from you? 

There is a certain profile of an Assault Weapon Owner. Maybe there are some folks who just think those weapons are cool, but I think it is prudent to suggest that anyone attracted to those types of weapons are suspect. 

Like to get your kicks shooting big, ugly, destructive weapons? I suggest trying other hobbies. How about Frisbee? Hacky-sack? Shuffle-board?  Pick up a Les Paul Guitar and let it rip.  I mean, fuck, get a life. 

Love & Death...

We often talk of Eros the Greek god of love and sex. But we don't often talk of Thanatos the personification of death.

Human Beings acting horrifically makes me fall back on my studies of Psychology. I think of Sigmund Freud:

"According to Sigmund Freud, humans have a life instinct—which he named "Eros"—and a death drive, which is commonly called (though not by Freud himself) "Thanatos". This postulated death drive allegedly compels humans to engage in risky and self-destructive acts that could lead to their own death. Behaviors such as thrill seeking and aggression are viewed as actions which stem from this Thanatos instinct."

It is not surprising that the suspected shooter in the latest atrocity had suicidal thoughts, and nihilistic tendencies. Being attracted to Assault Weapons, by and of itself, seems sort of sick. A sickness in the psyche. There is no reason to horde such weapons, except as some performative desire to wreak great havoc and death on themselves, and other Human Beings.

It is easy to find "defective" human psyches in our world. Seems the world can easily "hack" a psyche. And sometimes it's even an organized activity,  for instance, see the US Marines, and Stanley Kubrick's "Full Metal Jacket."  How to make a clean-cut kid into an efficient killing machine? Seems it is not that hard.

So yeah, what to do? You can't ban troubled Human Beings, but you can easily ban & confiscate Assault Weapons. All it takes is a bit of common sense and political will. Love & Death.

USA = Failing Miserably...

They call them "Mass Shootings." They happen in the USA quite frequently. 

You know, Anywhere USA. Any town, any village, any street, any grocery store, any parking lot, any Church, School, Office, Warehouse, Club, etc.  It always happens here.  

We have insanely loose gun laws. Weapons of War and Mass Destruction are easily available to Anyone, Anywhere in the Land of the Free and Brave. It is a scourge, a plague, a madness of our Culture. We all have failed; as a society, a culture, a nation. There is no excuse for not doing a better job of reining in the madness.

This latest July 4th Mass Shooting hit close to home. We live on the "North Shore" of Lake Michigan; this one was just few towns over, and the whole day had a black cloud over it. As President Joe said yesterday, after the latest mass shooting in Highland Park, IL:  it is an "Epidemic of gun violence."

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker: "Our founders carried muskets, not assault weapons, and I don’t think a single one of them would have said that you have a constitutional right to an assault weapon with a high-capacity magazine."

A sad day. No celebration here. Events like this, which happen pretty every freaking day are so disheartening, discouraging. Tragic. Human Beings in USA, you are failing miserably...

A Magnificent Green Canopy...

Summertime in the Heartland. We had a day off, (rare), and we spent most of it under a group of shady trees on the lakefront. Under a magnificent green canopy that reached up improbably sky-high. Little birdies flitting from branch to branch. A warm, sunny day, not a cloud in the big blue sky. A cool breeze off the lake, which was alive with swimmers, sailboats, jet-skis, human beings at play and leisure. The flickering little Emerald City, downtown Chicago, in the distance, tiny looming towers, looking like little tinker-toys. A blanket spread out on the ground, our bikes splayed out in the grass; we ate falafel sandwiches, wrapped grape leaves, pita bread and baba ghanoush. A feast of delight. We were off the clock, time stood still. Surrounded by life: couples in love, babies in strollers, little doggies on leashes, families gathered for fun and frolic. Long, lazy conversation, aimlessly flitting from topic to topic. Landing on nothing. Floating in place. It really did seem like Summer. A day in the life. 

Super-Flawed Human Beings, Being Human...

Way back there, in my past, I attended college and got a degree in Psychology. I was not the greatest student, I only applied myself to things that tickled my fancy. Discipline, at that time, was not one of my strengths. Goofing off. That I was quite good at.

I do think studying Psychology was one of the most important things I ever did. I started out as an English Major, thinking I was somehow furthering my chances of becoming a writer, but then on a whim, I jumped into Psychology, thinking that if I was going to be writer, I really needed to understand what made Human Beings tick. 

I came away thinking that Psychology was more of an Art than a Science, it was another realm where Humans were fumbling about, trying to make sense of things, but I did learn some useful concepts and ideas. I was especially inspired by Freud & Jung. Not sure I  came away with any better understanding of what makes Human Beings tick, but I had a few more tools in my kit-bag to keep on the search. Turns out we are not "Clockwork Oranges." We are tricky, contradictory, inspiring and often horrifying beings. There are no Saints, or Monsters amongst us, just super-flawed Human Beings, being Human. We are a very capable and mischievous Species that has become a great threat to all Life on the Planet.

And that is the Great Narrative. And all History, Art, Culture, Science, Politics, Commerce, you know, all Human activity on this little spinning globe is just Human Psychology played out across time. It's a weird-ass story with Billions upon Billions of Humans living, procreating, and dying, and seeding the next generations.

Where am I going with this? I have no idea.  I am just a Human Being typing words into a blank space. Making a mark, like footprints in the sand.  I really don't know what makes me tick. I am always trying to be onto the next thing. To keep myself occupied and hopefully, inspired. I do hear a faint, tick, tick, tick in the back of my head.  Time slipping, ticking away. The Human Being Story is just a story, a story about time and Human Beings doing their very Human Thing. Hope it all works out, but not exactly sure what that means...

A Pack of Jackels...

Early morning, when I am still in bed, the sun is peeking over the horizon, a new dawn, I am in a sort of "quasi-dream-state," or at least that's how it seems to me.  This is the time when I get weird messages,  dead pets call out to me, I have fractured conversations with long-gone relatives, and voices of folks from my past float into my head. I get assigned missions ("Your mission is to document catastrophic minds in catastrophic times..."), I get weird advice ("Float!"), sometimes Zen Koan-style phrases show up. "The good man does good, the bad man does bad. Be good."

This morning, I swear, a pack of vocalizing Jackels* passed by my window. They were yipping, yapping and chattering, maybe baying for blood or action?! I'm not sure. I take it as a dark omen. Lately, everything seems like CALAMITY. It is all a Waring-Blender of swirling, contradictory emotions. Hanging on. Trying my best to be my best. I take the messages and omens, and try to add them to my reservoir of intelligence. I believe in dreams and omens and secret messages. It's all part of the tapestry of existence.

* Update: I told my companion about my "dream-state-pack-of-Jackels," she corrects me: "Those weren't Jackels, those were Hell-Hounds!"  Holy Shite. I think she's right. Yikes!

The Extreme is Swallowing Us All Up...

You'd sort like to be happily moderate in the way you live, but, you know, catastrophic times call for catastrophic minds. We are in the midst of so many calamities, and they are all unfolding simultaneously. The center will not hold, nope, it is collapsing in on itself. No point in being moderate when the extreme is swallowing us all up.

Still reeling from the last January 6th Hearing (see the June 29 post).

It turns out that our ex-Prez #45, the Nauseous, Gaseous Dirigible thinks of himself as an American Julius Caesar, Napoleon, Attila the Hun, Mussolini or some other delusional strong-man. He actually wanted to cling to power at all costs and a clutch of sniveling, boot-licking lackeys went right along with him. He envisioned standing with the Mob on January 6th, and egging on the crowd to stop the Certification of the Vote, to occupy the Capitol, to "hang Mike Pence," and, I suppose, declare himself America's New FASCIST Leader For Life.

It sounds crazy, right? Even typing those sentences seems extreme. But, you know what? That is pretty much the story. WTF. It all came awfully close to happening too. It failed. Just barely. Luckily, Gaseous' Storm-Trooper Secret Service Agents spirited him away, maybe for his own saftey?! The mob was left to fend for themselves, while Gaseous, back at the White House, fumed and raged at the TV. And immediately after the "failed coup,"" Gaseous pretended it didn't really happen at all. It must have been that mythical beast ANTIFA who created the ruckus. He told us all not to believe our eyes, our ears, our senses five. And his rabid, murderous, crazy-ass, MAGA-Hatted followers just went along with the whole fucked up charade. 

It is only now, in these Hearings, that the true, sordid tale is being told. Yikes. Super-Yikes. Catastrophic times, indeed.  And, well, I mean, What to do? Of course, we have not heard all the evidence, there is much more to come,  other witnesses, other testimony, I hate to jump to end of the saga, but catastrophic times call for extreme measures, and  it seems that all corrupt roads lead to one Nauseous, Gaseous Dirigible. I know it seems so "third-world, banana republic" of us,  and of course, Gaseous still needs to be charged and tried, but the state of the state of the ship of state is what it is. We are all sinking into the extreme mire...

Bowing Down to Power & the Powerful..

I know I've written about this before; the flaws of Human Nature. The Christians called it "original sin." But, if you are a secularist, you could just chalk it up to our genetic heritage. Tendencies built-into our Human makeup.

Time and again we see Human Beings bowing down to the Big Man. I think we could call it the Big Man Syndrome, or you know, Big Monkey Man (although, sometimes, rarely, it is a Big Woman!). It happens in all realms, Church, State, Business, The Arts, you know any realm where Human Beings congregate.

We have a tendency to bow down to power. We elevate folks to a higher state and then worship them either because they are Powerful, Wealthy, Beautiful, Charismatic, Creative, Intelligent, Loud, Angry, or whatever. Celebrity is a grand hierarchy. Invariably anyone with lots of power will abuse it. It just seems like the natural state of things. Human Beings choosing not to do the right thing, but doing what they can "get away with."

Yes, I suppose Human Beings love a hierarchy. Maybe it helps us survive. Or it's a way of sharing the responsibility of living. We have even invented Gods to have something to look up to, and to bow down to. We do the same with very flawed, tricky, complicated Human Beings too. We should know better, being Human ourselves. There is some weird desire to give up our freedom & autonomy to a perceived higher power.

It is not an attractive attribute. Pretty damn soul-killing too. It has led us to lots of mischief, bloodshed, horrors beyond imagining.  Man's inhumanity to Man (and Woman), I mean, hell, you could write a hefty tome documenting that shite.

A Stain on USA...

The January 6th Committee Hearing Update: Blockbuster Edition.

Yes. The Hearing yesterday was stunning. A young woman, Cassidy Hutchison revealed her truth, and it was breathtaking. She was there. She saw. She witnessed. She testified, under oath. She revealed the sordid details, the depths of corruption, the mob-boss-like- ethic, the screaming, tantrum-wielding, vicious, Little Baby Man ex-Prez, #45, The Nauseous, Gaseous, Dirigble at his absolute worst. Sure, most of us thought that guy was a fucking, pathetic scourge on the land, but, you know, it was all even worse than even we imagined.

Lots of news in this hearing. Young Cassidy may go down as this coup, this scandal's John Dean, who knows?! My takeaway: Yes. It was a real Coup Attempt. Yes, Prez #45 wanted violence, he was fine with the mob murdering VP Mike Pence. From Emptywheel: CASSIDY HUTCHINSON PROVES THAT TRUMP KNEW THE MOB HE SICCED ON MIKE PENCE WAS ARMED

The Nauseous, Gaseous Dirigible ranted, raved, he desired to march to the Capital with the Mob. He wanted them armed. He wanted to stop the certification of the vote. He really did want to stay in office. He wanted to destroy our Democracy in one fell swoop!

And, you know, many people knew. They all went along, the lawyers, the advisors, the GOP Representatives, GOP Senators, the White House Staff, they covered for him, they lied for him, they did his bidding, they looked the other way. They are still covering for him now. So many folks should face the long-arm of the law. Justice must prevail. 

Gob-Smacking Shite, yesterday. Wow. A sordid, disgusting story. A real stain on USA. WTF!?!

Dream-Mission...

This is weird...

My night-time dream-states can sometimes be quite interesting. Last night in a dream-conversation with a dream-Friend, this line was spoken to me:

"Your mission is to document Catastrophic Minds in Catastrophic Times."

What to do with that? Oh man, that "mission," seems a bit too on the nose. But you know, I suppose maybe you can't pick your missions, they just come to you?!

Bifurcated...

We live these strange bifurcated existences. We experience wild-ass dichotomies all the time. We must navigate and try to bridge the divide; our lives, our bodies are the bridge, we live in the spaces between.

So, yesterday was a good example. A perfect day. Sunny, beautiful, the lakefront alive with life and wonder. The message: every moment is precious, and we should be grateful to be alive, aware, awake second by second. If we could truly see the world with total clarity, we'd be in total wonderment and stupefaction at all times. Yes, undoubtably a difficult way to get thru a day, but such is life.

At the same time, when we huddled with some of our fellow citizens, speaking of national events, things turned dark. Clouds of questioning loomed above our heads. Fascism on the rise? Are we watching the end of our American Dream? Over here in our Blue Bubble, it is getting difficult to put a positive spin on the direction of this little Democratic experiment.  Human Beings are failing at their jobs.  The question hanging over this beautiful day: Can we get our SHIT TOGETHER?!?

Distill Down the Difference...

Democrats vs. Republicans.

A battle between people devoted to racial justice, multi-culturalism, equality, social & political inclusion & diversity vs. people who don't value those things at all (they are clinging to their white nationalism, bibles and guns).

Democrats vs. MAGA DEATH CULT.

Democracy vs. Fascism.

Over here it SEEMS LIKE AN EASY CHOICE.  As a long-time, life-long American, a "white" (Heinz 57 model), boy born in USA, I throw in my lot with Democracy, Democrats and Progressives of all stripes and persuasions! I can't imagine living any other way. 

When I see anyone, for instance immigrant, woman, LGBTQ+ person, Black, Brown, Red, Yellow, poor, hungry, needy, being oppressed, vilified, excluded, I think: "There but for the grace of God go I."

We are all Human Beings. Equal under the Sun and the Flag. We all, every last one of us, should be treated with respect, dignity, love & charity. Those clinging to a creed of Supremacy are seriously wrong-headed & misguided. They are a threat to all we hold dear. They should be called out, out-voted. They truly are out-of-step with most of America.  The Tyranny of the Loud, Angry MAGA Death Cult must end.

Wing-Nut, Lunatic-Right, Fascist Judges...

The Supreme Court, not so supreme…

Thanks to Republican's successful campaign over the last 30 years or so to pack the highest court in the land with wing-nut, lunatic-right, fascist judges, woman have now been denied bodily autonomy. And the court has opened the door to taking away all of the social, progressive gains made by Women, LGBTQ+ folks, minorities and anyone who chooses an alternate lifestyle, or want to take contraceptives and being in charge of their own health. 50 or so years of social progress wiped away in one retrograde ruling.

Shocking. Breath-taking. Disgusting. Some of these judges lied their way to the court in their confirmation hearings before the Senate. They have destroyed their credibility and the credibility of the institution. What to do? Elect more Democrats in the House & Senate. Refuse to give up Hope. This ruling seems like a major step forward into a new American Fascism. The Supreme Court is so out of step with the broader culture. Those black-robed wing-nuts are living in an earlier century, when only White Rich Men had rights, everyone else, now reduced to second-class standing.

There will be work arounds. This country is too big, too diverse, too progressive to let this stand. Too many Americans stand against this ruling and this court. Time to reform the court, expand the court, pack it with Judges who better reflect the great diversity and reality of America.

More Details of the Trump Coup...

January 6th Committee Update:

I am alarmed, but I don't mean to be alarming.  Still, yesterday's hearing was a doozy. I mean, HOLY SHITE! As the narrative continues to unfold, yes, indeed, we came awfully close to a "rolling coup."

Seems Prex #45, The Nauseous, Gaseous, Dirigible really, really didn't want to abide by the law and constitution. He did not want to help facilitate a "peaceful, orderly, transfer of power" to the man who won the election of 2020, Joe Biden. 

A few lawyers, buttoned-up, conservative dudes held firm against the insane B.S. #45 cooked up to get them to "investigate" bat-shit, trumped up, B.S. A couple of these folks took notes, I guess it's probably not a good idea to try to strong-arm folks who know the law well, to break the law over loony conspiracy theories.

USA was so close to a constitutional crisis. Hard to convey the craziness, the stupidity, the crass, over the top corruption of #45's deranged, multi-pronged, many-tentacled, and supremely corrosive plan. What a stain on the nation. Nixon's Watergate corruption pales in the face of the Trump (attempted, almost happened) Coup.

There will be more coming in July.  I think it is a good guess that lots of folks are going to face the long-arm of the law. All we have now is the Truth, and Justice on our side. I hope that is enough. A major reckoning and cleansing must happen. The story is still unfolding. Stay tuned.

Vision of The Green Man...

My own "Nightmare Alley."

I am referring to my own inner landscape. Last night I had a dream, although, really "dream" doesn't do it justice. I guess I had a vision, a visitation. It was slightly "nightmarish." I mean that is how I experienced it.  I was in a deep sleep, awoke with a start, got up and walked towards the kitchen of our expansive apartment. 

There, standing in the doorway of the kitchen was "The Green Man:" - “This figure I am convinced, is neither a figment of the imagination nor a symbol, but is taken from real life, and the question is whether there was any figure in real life from which it could have been taken. The answer, I think, is that there is but one of sufficient importance, the figure variously known as the Green Man, Jack-in-the-Green, Robin Hood, the King of May and the Garland King, who is the central figure in the May Day celebrations throughout Northern and Central Europe.”

I must say, my Green Man was intimidating, scary, fierce, super-intelligent:

He didn't speak, he just looked right thru me. I could feel a chill, a shiver run thru my body. I was animated with fear and a certain awe.  He was covered in leaves and branches, he was totally silent, but he opened his mouth and showed me his gritted teeth. He seemed to be in the prime of life, but at the same time, he was older than the hills, primeval, from another time and place. I retreated. Scurried back to bed, shivers of fear percolated thru my body. After a few minutes, I fell back asleep.

What to make of it? Attend to Nature? Attend to my own Nature? Re-connect to the Natural World? I don't know. The Green Man seems to me to be an emissary from another realm that co-exists with us. He lives in the landscape, the forests, the mountains, and in our bodies. We can't ignore him. Or, maybe we ignore him at our own peril.  I like this idea: "Some Green Men are shown with fronds of vegetation issuing form their eyes (such as at Bolton Abbey and Crediton church in England, for example), which can perhaps be interpreted as the artist’s ability to create what he sees."

Ok cool. Maybe I'll go with that...

Common Folks Standing Up to the Bully...

January 6th Hearing Update:

Wow. Things are truly getting interesting.  The Trump House of Corruption is starting to crumble before our eyes and ears. Yes, so far the hearings have been one blockbuster after the next. Yesterday, we got testimony from folks just trying to do their jobs, knowing that Joe Biden won the 2020 Election fair and square, (you know, really, it was a bit of a Biden Landslide), State Election officials in Arizona and Georgia described how they stood up to the bullying of The Gaseous Nauseous, Dirigible and his team of Toxic, Obnoxious Clowns. On the one hand, the common folk just did the legal, necessary, sensible thing:  Count the votes, Certify the votes, Declare Biden the Clear Winner. Simple. Easy. Democracy in Action.  At the same time, it took a bit of backbone to stand up to the onslaught of ranting Bullshit from Prez 45's (the Gaseous, Nauseous, Dirigible), Toxic Team of Bullying Assholes.

From Committee Member Representative Adam Schiff: "We have been blessed beyond measure to live in the world’s greatest democracy. That is a legacy to be proud of and to cherish. But it is not one to be taken for granted. That we have lived in a democracy for more than 200 years does not mean we shall do so tomorrow. We must reject violence. We must embrace our Constitution with the reverence it deserves, take our oath of office and duties as citizens seriously, informed by the knowledge of right and wrong and armed with no more than the power of our ideas and the truth, carry on this venerable experiment in self-governance."

Dare I conjecture, the tide is turning! Finally. Truth and Consequences.  There are a whole bunch of folks in a deep pile of shit. Any of those cretinous fools who went along with the Toxic Gaseous, Nauseous, Dirigible are in severe legal jeopardy. More hearings to come.  Popcorn Time!

Toxic Shit is Not Entertainment!

Another recommendation...

Want to stay sane? Ok, never-mind, maybe that's impossible. Want to TRY to keep your shit together? Best advice: Tune out the Loud, Angry Talkers across the Land. I mean it. We tend to amplify the Loud, Angry, Know-Nothings amongst us. We give them the airwaves: talk-shows, opinion shows, faux-news shows, internet streams and videos, blathering, blathering, blathering. There are whole cable networks, YouTube channels & podcasts devoted to that mind-numbing, totally dumbing-down Bullshit. Even cable networks that more closely align with my political persuasion, chatter away in an angry-making, cynical, sarcastic mode. Even "comics" and "comedy shows" stream this toxic shit. You know, just not funny. Not healthy. Air-pollution. Brain-pollution. Toxic to our systems. I think it's all stress-inducing, and your brain actually seizes up. All that toxic talk, pretending to be smart, makes us all less intelligent. And it's NOT ENTERTAINING! If you want to entertain yourself, listen to music, go for a walk, meditate. I mean you can keep informed. I'd recommend listening to NPR, reading the New Yorker, The Guardian, NYT & Washington Post. Reading is such a good, healthy way to ingest the news. I do think we all should also tune into the January 6th Hearings. Be sure to get your info directly from the witnesses. Try to discern facts directly. Inform yourself without intaking the toxic conversation around the cool, clear, reality.  Be AWARE, ALIVE, AWAKE. Seek the Truth. Yes, we all can handle the Truth. And really our lives, our mental-health, and our inter-connected ecosystem all depend upon it. Loud-Talker Opinions? Yikes! Complete Toxic Shit to be avoided at all costs! Let's keep our heads together, people!

"Woke?" - Sure!

Well... sure...

We all should aspire to be "Woke." 

Alive, Aware, Awake.  

Here and Now. How could anyone choose another way?  It is amazing to me that this is a contentious idea. Sure we should all be sensitive to all Sentient Beings. We should be Inclusive & Embracing of all Human Beings of every Race, Creed, Color & Sexual Orientation.

I suppose it gets a bit dicey on the fringes and margins. What to do with those who Hate? What to do with those who want to destroy Democracy? Who want to Discriminate against Others? Who want to be Free to Oppress?

I suppose we must Lead By Example. Show all Sentient Beings that we all benefit if we Lean to the Light: Equality, Fraternity, Liberty.  Free to Love. Think of those Dissenters as "Sick Spirits," folks who need a bit of Healing.  As Dylan once wrote: "Don't Hate nothing except Hatred."

What it is All About.

What to believe in?

You know it's a dicey thing. Best to believe in True Things.  What's True?  Maybe a clue, what's True is what's Real. What's real? Maybe what's left over when what you believe, evaporates before your very eyes? 

You know, I guess, it's all bit confusing, and complicated. Sometimes you end up believing in things you can't touch, or see, and you are not even sure if they really are real or not.

Last night our band did a r&r show, and it was extraordinary in every way. So, this morning, I can say that I believe in the power of music, and of r&r. I do believe that creating and performing music in a crowded room of enthusiastic souls is exhilarating and healing for all involved. It is an energy, a spirit, a vibe, a real thing, not something you can grasp in your arms, but something big, and powerful, and extraordinary.

It's all mysterious and ephemeral. It's a feeling, an experience that connects a whole room of folks. It is something that seems to  be disappearing even as it is manifesting in the air. The creative vibe; it is an act of conjuring, it's a magic trick. A weird magic to believe in; life-affirming, soul-enriching, it is what it is all about.

The Shite-Eaters...

The Masters of Disinformation have learned they can easily hack the knowledge system of humanity. They flood the pipes with total SHITE. And the media, plays their usual "both sides have a point" game. It is a sick form of entertainment, but, you know, we are all addicted to it in varying degrees. So, if you are paying attention, you have to wade thru waves and waves and waves of complete unmitigated BULLSHIT.  Prez #45 (the Gaseous, Nauseous Dirigible), is one of the greatest purveyors of the Ocean of Shite. And he has a cadre of Assholes who also excel at flooding the public square with mindless, toxic, drivel. And the MAGA Death Cult laps it all up. It is amazing. Gob-smacking. The MAGA Death Cult are the folks who EAT SHITE AND SAY IT TASTES GOOD!  The rest of us can put our big-boy boots on and wade thru the RIVER OF SHITE, we can make our way to the safe Island of Truth & Common Sense. It doesn't take a genius, just a decent, sensible Human Being who is really paying attention, and trusting in our "senses five."

A Quick Summary of Hearing Day #3!

I heard on the radio this a.m some folks just don't have the time to watch or listen to the January 6th Hearings. Too busy with their little lives to care about Democracy. Well, as a public service, let me give you all a quick summary of Day #3!

1. Yes, there was an organized attempted Coup on January 6.

2. Yes, ex-Prez, (45 - the Gaseous, Nauseous Dirigible), was fine with and encouraged the crowd to murder his V.P. Pence

3. Yes, lots of creeps and hanger's on were trying to help 45's Coup attempt.

4. Yes, 45 and his crew of henchmen & women, knew they were trying to do something totally Unconstitutional and Illegal.

5. Yes, at least one lawyer wallowing in the throes of his corruption was pleading for a PRESIDENTIAL PARDON after the Coup failed.

6. Yes, a Supreme Court Justice's wife (Ginni Thomas) was deeply involved, up to her neck in planning the coup. BTW - they have a ton of email's implicating Poor Fascist Ginni. I think she will now have to testify in front of the Committee. Popcorn time!

7. Yes, a Supreme Court Justice (Clarence Thomas) is now under scrutiny for not recusing himself on Supreme Court cases related to #45 and the Coup.

8. Yes, VP Mike Pence actually did the right thing (he was trying hard not to, but in the end he did). Surprise, surprise!

Yes. It was a consequential, informative, gob-smackingly, totally-impressive, mind-blowing hearing. More to come next week!

Stupid Reigns...

Stupid Answers to Stupid Questions...

Question: Are Human Beings going to confront Climate Change?

Answer: Probably not. I mean, yes, of course, with their chins. It's all happening NOW.

Question: Are Human Beings going to make Earth an Uninhabitable Hell-scape?

Answer: Probably yes.


Question: Who will they blame?

Answer: God, The Devil, Anyone but themselves.


Question: Is the Trump-MAGA-Death-Cult one of the worst things to happen to USA?

Answer: Yes, no doubt, there is a long list of bad things, but the Death-Cult is probably in the top echelon, (maybe top three?), of bad, fucked up things to happen to our country. A really, really stupid, mind-numbing, brain-fogging, fucked up phenomena.


Question: Can we roll up our sleeves, get our shit together, and fix things?

Answer: Who the fuck knows? It's a dicey question. Not sure I'd bet on it. Human Beings: Tricky, Complicated, Not as Smart as they think they are.


Question: Eternity... is it a long time?

Answer: Yes. Eternity is a really, really, really, long, long time.

The Big Lie was also the Big Grift!

Back to the January 6th Hearings…

Day Two - It was kind of a blockbuster. Again, most of the devastating testimony was from Republican folks who worked for 45 (the Gaseous, Nauseous Dirigible). You want "bi-partisan," this hearing is definitely bi-partisan.

So far, it is a riveting, life-changing narrative, masterly-presented. 

What was the main takeaway in Hearing #2? 

Not only did our Ex-Prez know his Big Lie (the false claim that the election was rigged), was a Big Lie, he raised $250,000,000 from the MAGA Death Cult for a Defense Fund that DIDN'T EXIST! The Big Lie was also the Big Grift. Most of the money vanished into the deep black hole of B.S.

You wonder if the MAGA Death Cult will ever have that moment of clarity: "OMG, that Fat Fucker not only lied to us, he ripped us off AGAIN!"  I know… not… likely… it is hard for folks to admit they have been suckered.

Yesterday, I turned to my friend and said, "The odds of Fat Fuck being indicted have increased immensely."  As they always say: Follow the Money. I'd bet the FF didn't claim those ill-gotten gains on his tax forms, and, well, you know, where did all the money go?

Inquiring minds want to know!

Less Talk, More Silence...

Ha… 

I think Ludwig Wittgenstein was there well before me “Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent”.

I come from a long line of conversationalists. Folks, mostly men in my ancestral line, who like (and liked) to talk. A line of enthusiastic, loud-talkers. I reflect back and think, well, it wasn't all nonsense, but, you know, we'd often get in loud, super-consequential, tooth & nail, verbal arguments about things, "whereof one cannot speak." We thought and fought about things we thought we knew about in a dark fog of "know-nothing-ness."

Was Joe Louis a greater heavy-weight boxer than Muhammad Ali?

Was Picasso the greatest painter? Or Matisse? Or Van Gogh? Or Warhol?

And, by the way, "Why is boxing even a sport?" And "What the Fuck is Art anyway?"

Is Michael Jordan the greatest basketball player of all-time? Well, yes, no doubt, this one is a no-brainer.

Was Stanley Kubrick the greatest filmmaker of all-time? Or was it David Lean, John Huston, Orson Welles, Martin Scorcese, Francis Ford Coppola, Frank Capra, Billy Wilder?

How would you measure any of these things? How would you know what's what? We all would wield our strongly-held opinions like they were deadly, blunt instruments. 

You know, we all had deep, in the bone, opinions. Sometimes they'd shift, but often we'd just club each other with our opinions and smile.

And then there were the grand concepts that none of us really knew WTF we were talking about:

The Future

Reincarnation

Heaven, Hell, Purgatory

Original Sin

Damnation

Redemption

Economics

Revolution

Philosophy

God, Death, Life

Vietnam War

Iraq War

Gulf War

9/11

The Generation Gap

Meaning and Purpose

Nature vs. Nurture

Life AFTER Death 

Love & Salvation

Topics of the Day

Blind Human Beings stumbling in a dark closet.

We were clueless even about simple questions like: Why are here? What should we do with our time? What to think? Where to go? What's it all about Alfie?"

So yes, well, we filled the air with our voices, thinking maybe it was important, or certainly entertaining, but, nowadays I'm thinking silence, quiet contemplation, sustained moments of staring into the yawning void, would have been beneficial.  You can eliminate lots of topics of conversation right off the bat. Clear the deck of anything you can't pinpoint and verify. Clear the air. Keep it simple. Speak of things you know thereof. You could fit them in a thimble, a shot-glass or a matchbox.

For instance: "What did you do today?" "What did you do yesterday?" "What did you have for lunch yesterday?" "What's for lunch today?" Beyond that, well, it is sort of  dropping into a pointless cloud of unknowing.  What's gonna happen today?  Maybe best to just live and find out.

Laughter & Tears...

Ah well…

It is was an uncommon Sunday. We traveled to the Big City for a memorial service for a fallen friend and relation. It was all about transportation, and the perils of public transportation. 3 trains to downtown, 1 train back. Everything takes longer in the this post-pandemic era. Everything looks a bit tired and shabby. And summer in Chicago means a cold breeze zipping across the river. A June chill. We saw some familiar faces. Years hanging over all of us. We saw a celebration of a life, cut short. An unimaginable illness, unimaginable loss. We all seemed to be just grappling with the basic facts & meanings. No answers. We told stories, we laughed, we hugged, tears welled up in our eyes.  A line my father always used to say: "What's it all about Alfie?" Hung over me. Right?! Not sure what it is about at all. What was the theme for the day? EVERYTHING IS PRECIOUS. It all can (and will) be snatched away in an instant. In the meantime, take care. Do good. Be here now. The rest is just a big Mystery. No sense talking about the big subjects, they are all wrapped in clouds, you know, Life, Death, God, Meaning. It seems clear there are no definitive answers, only existential questions. We have to live with the questions. How to do it? Who knows? It's up to us to Live as best we can, knowing what little we do. Maybe, be kind to each other, try to see the Light, and share it? Contain multitudes. Remember: Laughter and Tears of Joy. Everything is Hard-Earned. That is the best we can do, be True.

Truth-Seekers, Truth-Tellers...

It is obvious to this Humble Observer that the January 6th Hearings are writing history NOW. An event happened, (an Insurrection),  and, even to this day, we are still sifting through the evidence, discovering facts, putting the narrative together. It's a tale of skullduggery and intrigue. The Congressional Commitee is determined to unearth the facts, to discover and uncover the truth, and present it to the world. It is an honorable task. It doesn't matter if some people don't care. It doesn't matter if some people continue to LIE over and over, and swear that there are no facts, there is no Truth, and what we can see and hear with our own eyes and ears didn't really happen. We must not be BAMBOOZLED by the loudest, no-nothing voices. So funny to see that the MAGA Death Cult just refuses to see the obvious. They can yell, and pound the table and swear that their Gaseous Dirigible Candidate was cheated, but it's all just Gaslighting, maximum B.S. They have no leg of evidence to stand upon. I throw my lot in with the Truth-Seekers and Truth-Tellers. Let the facts and the evidence live. We can handle the truth. And we must face it. It is the only way to reclaim and renew the USA and it's always under attack Democracy.

"Gimmee Some Truth…" - J. Lennon

Ha. In these politically-polarized times, total Bullshit is given equal time to the cold hard facts. So we get, for instance, the Big Lie, a multi-year campaign where that bloated dirigible, ex-Prez 45 yammers on about totally fictional hallucinations of a stolen election: total fabrication, disinformation, ridiculous, totally debunked B.S. But it turns out for a percentage of the population (30 %?), it is a convenient Lie, an entertaining fabrication, something to cling to as if their lives depended on it. It is appalling. The Big Lie sits in the punchbowl like a very big, ominous, ridiculous, deadly turd. We all have to try to maneuver around it. Maybe best to avoid the punchbowl completely? Best to find an alternate brew. The Truth is out there. It isn't up for debate. Truth is Truth. Why do those folks cling to the Lie? They can't admit they are wrong, they've duped by a total Clown and Fraud? Yes, probably so. The rest of us scratch our heads and wonder: why are so many of my fellow Americans fed up with Democracy, you know, why do those supposed "true Americans" hate so much of what makes America great? Beats me. I think it's a kind of a nihilistic death cult: Trumpism. Yuck. The worst of the worst embodied in one man and one movement. 

So yes, the January 6th Hearings (see previous post), are all about telling, exposing, highlighting the truth of the events that led to the Insurrection. It is a necessary, healthy, important thing to do, to show to the world. The cold hard facts, the basic, simple truth of what happened must stand up against the B.S. that swirls around us. It is not entertainment, it is a cleansing, a truth-seeking tonic for what ails us. Let it come down. What happens when all see the plain truth? Who knows? The Death Cult will probably shut their eyes to it. But it is worth the effort. It is essential. Existential. Fuck the Liars. Fuck the B.S. As John Lennon once sang: "Gimmee Some Truth."

Stunning, Sad, Enraging, Informative...

We watched the January 6th Hearing last night on TV. We pretty much tuned out the the pre & post commentary, and just watched the hearing. It was stunning, sad, enraging, informative. Stirred us up. Made us realize how fragile our Democracy really is, and how close we all came to seeing it crash and burn.  Not sure what happens next, but it seems like lots more folks who were in the loop of this dastardly plot hatched by 45 must stand and face the consequences of the law. As Liz Cheney (?!?) pointed out, there is only ONE PRESIDENT IN THE HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY (45) who decided they did not want to submit to the PEACEFUL TRANSFER OF POWER.  So after being trounced in the election, 45 waged a crazy-ass campaign, the Big Lie, that even his Attorney General knew was total "Bullshit," to overthrow all reason, logic, common sense, and the Constitution. WTF! That Dude is a plague and a scourge on the land. We must rid ourselves of this pestilence. How to do it? The Rule of Law. Justice. It is supposed to be Blind and it grinds slow, but here's hoping a reckoning and cleansing is coming. Hoping.

My Own Personal Gospel...

I found myself, off the cuff, just spit-balling, improvising in the moment, talking off the top of my head, preaching my own personal creative gospel yesterday to a small group of musicians. We had just finished an astonishingly good session, playing songs together, flying, vamping, listening, responding, creating vibrations with heart & soul, totally alive, aware & awake in a rehearsal room, all connected & inspired, doing the good work.

I talked about energy, vibrations, healing, the power we were conjuring in the moment. I preached how we were all "healers," we were doing essential work that our fellow human beings were thirsting for, and craving. It all came out in a blizzard of words and feelings. I didn't know I was going to speak my truth, there was no forethought, I don't usually let it all hang out like that,  I mean, usually we play together and let the music have the last word, but this was a sympathetic group, folks who I admire, respect and trust, and they often inspire me with their beauty and dedication to their instruments and the music we create together.

So I laid it on thick. The opposite of a "fire & brimstone" sermon, it was a sermon of love and energy, and vibrations, and discipline and fun, and the creative mission. It was a riff on our purpose. There were smiles all around. I think the message landed in hearts and minds. We all kind of glowed. It was a good session.

Gentle, Quiet, Clarity...

The Noise Machine. We face it every day. It is enormous, overwhelming. It blares out at us from every corner. Often, we are just trying to navigate thru the noise to get to some basic gentle, quiet, clarity. It is there beneath the BABEL.

Onto the Next Thing...

I can't help myself. It seems I'm always onto the next thing. It seems like an attitude, a proclivity, a modus operandi, that is embedded deep in my being. I think it is a healthy way to engage with the world. But not sure I have a choice in the matter. It just seems like a part of my makeup, like having blue eyes, crazy hair. I wonder to myself, has this tendency always been so? Yep. Pretty much. At least I think so. Maybe it's a by-product my impatient nature, my natural curiosity, my over-stimulated brain? Whatever. Onto the next thing. It is sort of guiding principle to live by.

Working On It...

Ah yes. I try to be common-sensical. I do think it's good to keep my feet on the ground. To keep my head clear. To live in the moment. To stay clear of the dark clouds and soul-killing negativity. It is important to accept loss, to take in the darkness, to integrate it, to lean to the light and BE RESILIENT! It is essential to be completely Human. To realize there is no perfection. We must understand our limitations, our flaws, our quirks, our blind-spots. We must know that we are blind, but at the same time we can try to be vigilant: ALIVE, AWARE, AWAKE. We can navigate towards the LIGHT. In some ways that is our JOB. To gravitate and cultivate the LIGHT. It is a MYSTICAL notion. Yes. I am a common-sensical MYSTIC. Humble. Uncertain. Working on it.

Shadow Self...

One morning this week my good friend asked me: "Do you ever struggle with your Shadow Self?"

My answer: "Every... damn... day..."

No Counting for Me...

I remember reading a Saul Bellow novel, and if I recall correctly, a character in that novel remarked that "Life is not a business."  It is not about numbers or $. You know, life doesn't really add up.

Right. It's not about sums and summing up. Life is about living. Human Beings tend to count. We count the days, the years, we look back on anniversaries. I think all that counting is counter-productive, contrary to living a fully-realized life in the moment.

I don't like to count. I just really want to live in the moment. No sense in accounting, summing up, totaling, etc.  Live. That is my thing. And if you live in the moment, you are in the glow of the mystery or as Ludwig Wittgenstein once wrote: “If we take eternity to mean not infinite temporal duration but timelessness, then eternal life belongs to those who live in the present.”

Best to be Open-Ended...

I am big believer in believing, but, you know, believing is a tricky thing, you have to be very careful in picking and choosing what you will entertain as a core belief. It so easy to get lost in cul-de-sacs & rabbit-holes; to chase after ghosts, chimeras and unicorns. We are tricky beings. We are so easily fooled, we love to fool ourselves too. We are susceptible to lies and the big fancy liars. There are political movements and political parties (for instance the death-cult lemmings of the MAGA GOP), that has gone hook, line and sinker for the biggest, most ridiculous and soul-killing lies. They refuse to face Truth and Reality. Truly a scourge across the land.

What to believe in? Best to be open-ended & open-minded.

Suggested things in which to believe:

A Better Day.

Grace & Kindness.

Humility.

Reality.

Truth.

Creativity.

Imagination.

Hope.

Democracy.

Equality.

Humor.

Discipline.

Hard work.

Good deeds.

Improvisation.

Music.

Laughter.

Love.

Common Sense.

Responsibility.

Way too much disinformation & noise out there. And Bad Actors. Assholes. A Legion of Assholes. A Plague of Assholes. Best to avoid and work around the Assholes.  We need a Fierce Optimism. A willingness to roll up our sleeves. To apply ourselves. To try to do the things we can do to the best of our abilities. Every day! Damn the torpedos!

Reality is the Teacher...

Reality is the teacher. And the doing, the facing, the enduring is putting the lessons into action. We lose our way when we get hung up on clinging to what we want, to what we believe, to our ideas, our fantasies, all that's in our heads, in the face of the MAGNIFICENT REAL.

We must use our senses five. Maybe our senses six? 

Alive. Aware. Awake. To everything. The connections of everything. Life is big, bold, complicated, more than we can take. We take as much as we can. We are in it, of it. It's a personal thing, but we must not take anything personally.

Reality. The teacher. Every day, every moment of every day, a lesson.

Wit...

Let us keep our wits & wittiness about us. A dose of humor, a dollop of laughter. Not cynical laughter. Genuine. Bellyful. Laughter of Wonderment.

An Agreeable Aimlessness...

Yes. This morning: post-vacation. 

After a couple days of lounging by the pool. Not our pool. Exquisite. Plus a  few long, rambling walks. Good meals. Music. We rediscovered "The Piano Man." We hadn't seen him during the covid-lockdown years. So happy he made it thru and we made it too, to hear him play his keyboard near our favorite willow tree on the lakefront by the pond. We caught some ABBA, some Queen, "Yesterday," and my absolute favorite Elton John song, "Daniel." I got a little tear in my eye hearing that one.

A couple days of not having to go anywhere, if we didn't want to go anywhere, and we really didn't. You might think aimless, yes, a bit aimless, but it was an agreeable aimlessness.  This morning there are things to do, places to be. Back to being "Woke:" ALIVE, AWARE, AWAKE. Summer-time Woke-ness. Living is Easy in the moment.

Spiritual Sponges...

We had a quiet day yesterday. We found a secret garden, a sanctuary, and spent a long afternoon in a quiet, sunny vibe; healing and restorative. We both (my companion and I), know the world is filled with sadness and pain, we are both quite empathetic, shattering world events weigh heavy on our spirits, it is sometimes hard to take it all in, and at that same time, there is beauty and wonder everywhere. We soak it all up. Spiritual Sponges. It is a dance, a balancing act, and a full-time discipline to not get overwhelmed, plowed under, or carried away. There is so much to process. We are all in the same boat. Floating in the ether. It is enough to blow our minds, daily.

Maybe Silence?

Sunday. Maybe silence is the only good response to unimaginable events? So much suffering and trouble in the world. It all so badly reflects on all of us. Sadness and loss, a very deep well with seemingly no bottom. How to keep our heads together? How not to lose heart? I type words. Life does go on. Everything counts. All the good, all the bad. Being Silent Witness to it all is cold comfort. A new day beckons. Silence.

A Children's Crusade?

You hope the outrage and pain can be transformed into political action. Maybe a "Children's Crusade?" The inaction and abdication of responsibility maintained by the GOP in the face of relentless mass slaughter is maddening and disheartening. 

We are failing the Children. 

Concerned Citizens and Parents need to unite and rise up. This is a political fight that can and must be won. USA, we need 60 or more Democratic Senators. We need Representatives willing to face the music, roll up their sleeves and legislate. Folks need to vote with their hearts on the their sleeves.

There are no good arguments against sensible gun control. No one needs to own an AR-15 or similar weapons. Those types of weapons must be banned and confiscated. We must make it really, really hard for people to get a gun. It is a major task, but one worth taking on. 

Sensible. Common Sense. Responsible. 

The majority of Americans are aligned on this issue. The GOP and the NRA are obstructors to gun sanity. It is no longer tolerable. All of their arguments fail. 

A change of consciousness can happen in an instant. That time is now. Concerted action is required. This problem can be fixed. No doubt. We need to see clearly, to take action. We owe it to the Children and to ourselves.

Of Course We Can Stop It!

Yes. Cartoon by Barry Blitt.  The GOP has blood on their hands. No doubt.

I'm not sure if I am a proponent of Existentialism, (a philosophy that... centers on the subjective experience of thinking, feeling, and acting), some days, probably so, but, for sure, I really do take this quote from Jean-Paul Sartre to heart:

"Our responsibility is much greater than we might have supposed, because it involves all mankind."

Horrific events perpetrated by my fellow Human Beings seem to me to implicate my whole fucking species. The details of the latest mass school shooting are just too disturbing and soul-sucking to dwell upon. But the cold hard facts reflect upon all of us in the USA. We are the only advanced nation on the planet that allows this type of mass shooting with military grade weapons to continue to plague us.

A deep, dark, black-hole of nihilism. Some weird compulsion for death and destruction. Yes, it's like a virus in the Human Being tool-kit, USA version.

Some cynics throw their hands up and say nothing can be done.

Some hardcore creeps say we just need more guns.

Some folks bury their heads in their Bibles want to petition their God to intervene.

How about instead some common sense, can-do action? For instance: "Universal background checks, ban or restrict large magazines, require liability insurance, allow gun manufacturers to be sued for damages, ban assault rifles, require safety training and permits, don’t sell guns to people under 21." - Colin Peters

The Idiocy of our Gun Laws...

Yikes. If we as a Species are faced with Man-Made Horrors, are we smart enough to mend our ways, to roll up our sleeves, and try "fix" things?  Reflecting on the History of Humanity, the answer is pretty much not encouraging.

As a Species we don't seem all that smart. Sure there are smart Humans amongst us. And most of the innovation, invention & creativity comes from a small subset of the great, over-populated Human Herd.

Our permanent record is definitely a mixed bag. Murder, Rape, Dismemberment, Torture, War, Genocide,  Bad Blood, Bad acts, Unimaginable Horror. That's one side of the equation.

Kindness, Love, Beauty, Heart, Grace, Intelligence, Creativity.  You know, there are few positive qualities in our kit-bag, but we are complicated messes.

USA is a "Gunaholic Culture." The Idiocy of our Gun Laws betrays a will-full blindness, & madness. It's probably not possible to fix Human Beings, we are not Clockwork Oranges. But of course, we can fix the Gun Problem. Even the 2nd Amendment contains the phrase: "Well-Regulated." 

There is no reason, except for a nihilistic Death Wish to allow Americans to own Military-Grade Weapons. Complete Fucking Idiocy too. OK. Maybe we aren't that smart. But we at least have to try to do better. To throw our hands up and declare that there's nothing to do is just an abdication of responsibility.  Blood on our hands. All of us.

Gun Sickness...

Another school shooting. It's heartbreaking. No doubt. And the political stalemate to actually do anything to try to prevent these tragedies is soul-sucking & brain-numbing.

We have a Human Being problem. Flawed Humans capable of anything, armed with too many guns, guns of every type, military-grade, weapons of mass destruction, so easily available to anyone & everyone in the USA.

This is a Mental Health issue, and a Gun Law issue. Wrapped up together. The compulsion to own guns is a sickness. Anyone arming themselves is suspect. Let's assume, for good reason that they are not right in the head.

Yes. Of course, guns should be banned. It should be really, really, really hard for a citizen to get a gun. Maybe it should be impossible. And if you are a Human Being stocking up on weapons, you really need to have your head examined. Gun Sickness.

Rainbows...

From Killing Eve: "She's a rainbow in beige boots."

My partner and I can relate. We too sometimes feel like rainbows in a beige world, which has not always been peaches and cream for us. If you are radiating a wide-color-spectrum, you are always visible, and vulnerable to others in the Human Herd.  Standing out has it's hazards. There are many folks vying to swat us down. Sometimes, it would be easier to fit in, to belong, to not make waves, and just get along. 

Often, for us, that is not possible. Probably good that we have found each other, we can radiate together. It really helps when we have a r&r show. Performing together onstage, radiating the full spectrum. But it takes energy, and we can't always modulate or control it. Sometimes there is more out-going than in-coming. Energy management is a tricky thing.

Sometimes a really good show, means a "broken rainbow" the next day. Then it's all about shades of gray, of black and white, a spectrum of monochrome. Silence, long meditations, good meals, couch time are then required. 

We do our best to recharge, refresh, reconstitute. Get ready to radiate another day.

Beware the Noise...

Yes. Someone talking about "the Future," or "God," or what's gonna happen next, are really just exposing their own doubts, fears, prejudices, worries. 

We have the moment. We live in it. Getting beyond the moment is pretty much aimless speculation. Noise. Beware the noise.

Survival & Joy...

I know, survival first. We all need food, shelter, clothing, a safe harbor, an education, a way and a means to navigate the world. Then, if we are lucky, we get to try to maximize joy (see previous post). There are no promises, and we are all victims of circumstances beyond our control. We all have to contend with what we have to contend with; some of us face ceaseless bleakness, gloom, death and destruction. Some of us get to bathe in a happy light. Most of us, maybe all of us, must live and die with a bit of both. Death hovers over everything.  That's just way the Universe rolls.

William Blake said it best: 

"Every Night & every Morn
Some to Misery are Born
Every Morn and every Night
Some are Born to sweet delight
Some are Born to sweet delight
Some are Born to Endless Night"

You hope to experience sweet delight, often.... and, yes... a you hope everyone else can experience sweet delight too.

Hedonism of Joy!

Hedonism, for some reason, (let's blame the Puritans, the Bible-Thumpers, the Doomsday Folks & Gloomy Gus folks?), sort of gets a bad name, like, pursuing pleasure and happiness above all else, is somehow, bad, or sinful, or silly, or not worthy of a serious Human Being.

Maybe there is an error in the thought-process? What of a simple, disciplined, common, ordinary, grounded, soulful hedonism? A way of life dedicated to maximizing joy, pleasure, happiness, without engaging in risky, soul-nullifying behaviors? What of a Hedonism of Goodness? A Hedonism of Gentle Kindness?

Think of Joseph Campbell's great advice: Follow Your Bliss!

You may ask, Why be good? Why be kind? Why be gentle? Well, that is simple, it feels good, and makes others feel good. And the more of us  in the world who feel good, the better the world will be for all. Goodness is not a zero-sum game. Be fruitful and multiply the joy.

Buddha told us: Life is Suffering.

Jesus showed us Suffering was Transcendent.

I say, they were wrong. A Hedonism of Joy. That's the ticket, baby!

Stray Lines...

I'm going to paraphrase, just to test my powers of recollection. I was reading a little article about Ludwig Wittgenstein (greatest Philosopher of the 20th Century? Yikes, that's top billing!).  

Little Ludwig was a handful.  There are a few stray lines that resonate with me this a.m. For instance, (again, I am paraphrasing): 

To live in the moment is to live in the Eternal.

The Happy Human Being experiences a different world than the Unhappy Human Being.

What we know is dwarfed by what we don't know.

We should be silent about things we don't know.

Joy. It is the only way to live.

Okay, that's my morning take on Little Ludwig. Take what you need and leave the rest...

Like the Rain...

Happiness is like the Rain, Love too. We want to be Rainmakers, we can try to conjure, command, enforce our will, but just like Happiness & Love, Rain just descends upon us when it does, unbidden. We are powerless in the face of the really, really important things. We can lean, we can hope, we can simplify and try to accentuate the positive, we can do our best to be Alive, Aware, Awake. And then, we are left with conspiring forces swirling out there, beyond us. 

Crystalline Consciousness...

Funny, seeing clearly does pay off. You know, best to try to cultivate "crystalline consciousness." Be clear in thought and intention. Visualize.

This morning the thought-bubble in my head: The Overlords amongst us, those with all the Power & Money, Fame & Celebrity, are basically Pretenders & Frauds. Human Beings, flawed, contradictory, no better than any one else hanging out on the street-corner. Turns out lots of rich, powerful, well-known folks are pretty much clueless idiots. It may be that Power, Money & Celebrity are all crutches, truly obstacles and impediments to being well-rounded Human Beings. 

We all get it wrong. God is not Love. LOVE IS GOD. What's needed? Humility. Silence. Common Decency and Kindness. Small acts of being Small, ordinary. Just a Human with no B.S. - nothing to sell, nothing to prove, not worried about competing, stacking up, or about being judged by some weird, counter-human standard.

The a.m. soundtrack - Son Volt's "The Search" (2007) - Sounds amazing this morning. Revelatory. Inspiring. What a fabulous band. A band and a record a bit under the radar. This record is magnificent. And truly an artistic & humanistic statement worthy of attention. "It's the search, not the find..." - Jay Farrar

The Bright Shiny Beast...

The Bright Shiny Beast. It's multi-headed. Multi-armed. Multi-legged. It's always on. It's always got something bright and shiny to share. It takes up all the oxygen. It fills all the silence. It takes up enormous time and space. It is abundant, it is legion. Everlasting.  The Bright Shiny Beast is not your friend. You think the Bright Shiny Beast is a giving creature, but it is taking, always, always taking. You are just compost, fuel, beverage. You will be Consumed. Taken apart cell by cell. Vaporized. Crushed into tiny, invisible molecules. You will probably go willingly, maybe even with a smile on your face. That's the big joke at the end of the road. Ha! The joke is on us... all of us... the Bright Shiny Beast rules the roost! It will destroy everything, and keep destroying well after we are all gone.  The Bright Shiny Beast. All hail!

Living & Dying in the USA...

Living in the USA...

Living with Bibles, Guns, Guns, Guns & more Guns...

Living with RACISM & White Supremacy, and other forms of Mental Illness...

Living with inequality, and stupidity, and HATE...

Sure, most of us are kind and decent, we just want to make it thru to the next day, live our lives, with joy, love and laughs, but we are surrounded by a very Hateful, Conspiracy-Minded Minority, spoon-fed the daily-hate by Cable TV (FOX), and Internet liars, hucksters, and a rancid, performative group of GOP-ers, who rile a rabid mob that is LOUD, Proud, Armed and deeply, ill...

A scourge across the land.

Gluttons of Data...

Too much information. 

Overload. 

Yikes. Pretty sure the Human Brain just can't process the constant data flow of a global, 24/7, multitudinous platform. We are armed with too much technology. The tentacles, the connections are ubiquitous, snaking across the globe with a gazillion tiny fibrous strings. Over-stuffed, over-saturated, overwhelmed.  We are gluttons of data. We are drowning, suffocating, sinking from the weight of  too too much.

The Bench...

Yesterday afternoon. One of our favorite rituals. 

Sitting on a bench, looking out at Lake Michigan. A vast expanse of water, sometimes calm, sometimes stormy. It looks like an ocean, but it's only a lake. A large one. The beaches aren't officially open yet, but the beaches are teeming with life; young kids, old folks, teenagers, mothers, fathers stomping around in big, droopy shorts. The water is cold, ice cold. There are a few brave souls wading into the water, and finally diving into the waves. Most come scurrying back out, shivering.

There is also a path, a very popular byway. Bikes, skateboards, rollerbladers, baby strollers, wagons. Human Beings of all shapes and sizes, walking, talking, running, laughing, listening to their headphones.

We sit on the bench and just let the passing scene roll over us like an ever-changing wave. We sip our cold beverages. We speak of the world and everything in it. Our conversation is framed by long stretches of silent witnessing. Sometimes it's best to just observe, to sit quietly and take in the sights and sounds. 

A big, bold, blue sky above us. Wispy white clouds like cotton dotting the blue. Just a day. In the life. On the bench.

A Solid Afternoon of Destruction...

Does everyone have a special skill?

I ask, because I think I have one. What would it be? Destroying things. Taking things apart. Breaking things. Clearing out debris. Knocking down things.

I'm not so good on the building things side of the equation. You know, building solid, tangible things? I failed "Shop" in High School. I kept planing and planing and finally the little wooden box I was making was so misshapen, ill-formed, and frankly ridiculous, that I tossed it in the garbage bin, said I lost it, and got an "F" because I couldn't face the humiliation of such a badly made thing. 

I have a bad sense of proportion. Materials never seem to fit, or match up. I take something apart, put it back together, and I always end up with spare screws, springs, washers.

Anyway, back to my special skill. 

It was on full display yesterday. I worked the garden plot. I hacked, and chopped, and uprooted, and dug and scraped, and clipped, and used all my muscle to transform an over-grown jungle of dead and weedy land. I sweated, I bled, ended up with a bandage on my hand,  just a scraped knuckle, my head was spinning like a top in the heat. Oh yeah, and the best tool in my hands, new set of garden clippers? I broke them.

Still, it felt good. I mean, it was all quite exhilarating. It is good to be good at something. Destruction. A clearing in the dirt. Dead branches cut down and stacked. A job well-done. A solid afternoon of destruction. Success!

Uncommon Day...

Suddenly "Summer." 

Funny. Lots of sun and warm temps in the Heartland the last few days, when we have had a long slog of  months of very little sun, and very little warmth. It is amazing how much the weather outside can influence the weather inside.

Everything is blooming here. Flowers proudly standing up. Leafy trees tossing in the air. Nature pushes it's way into our little citified enclave. Yesterday I was riding my bicycle down the avenue when I looked to my left and saw two female Deer trotting across green-carpeted lawns heading over to munch on some leafy green bushes.

I called my friend on my cell phone to come over to check it out. We watched these two amazing creatures as they grazed. So otherworldly. It was a bit astonishing & enchanting. This primal wildness, beautiful and graceful in the midst of tamed land. We could see they were thirsty. A neighbor brought a sliver bowl of water. The deer trotted into a sheltered backyard. I placed the bowl on the ground, hoping they would discover it. We watched for a bit, and then, well, we figured they knew what they were doing and we trekked on home.

Kind of transformed the day. It was good day, an uncommon day. Hushed. Beautiful. Enchanting.

Being to Being...

Beings are Beings. 

I am of the Human variety. I spend lots of time with the Bird and Dog variety. I learn a lot by hanging with other types of Beings. Seems to me Birds and Dogs are pretty honest. I mean, hard to tell all that is going on in their worlds; Birds & Dogs have powerful means of perception, very different than I do. I don't know how they see, how they use their noses, what kind of calculations are swirling in their heads. Probably very different from my perceptions and noodle-ings. But of course, just as valid and powerful in navigating reality.

We have pretty clear, and straight-forward relationships. We all give each other lots of undivided attention. We tend to lock-in on the same wavelengths whether we are sitting in the sun room meditating, listening to music, having lunch (Birds), or out walking on the path (Dogs).

We meet Being to Being. We learn to respect each other, to trust each other. We are all seem very pleased to be together. There is a noticeable enthusiasm (giddy chirping, tail-wagging, jumping and playing),  when we meet and greet.

You know, attention, affirmation, food and treats are the currencies of our relationships. I primarily extend the hand, and they accept what I offer with what seems to be joy, pleasure, happiness, contentment, loyalty, dedication.

All this is in contrast with the Human to Human thing. In that realm? Lies, evasions, bad blood, false narratives, guilt, suffering, button-pushing. It is amazing how hypocritical Human Beings can be. And how cruel, how full of righteousness, anger and shit.

Seems counter to well-lived Life. Counter to Being Real. Human Beings will Lie themselves to the grave. Strange Beings, for sure. 

We Humans should take some lessons from all of the other Beings co-existing with us.  No doubt, we are a complicated, confused and contradictory species. Looks like we are really Fucked Up. And we are Fucking Up the Life-Supporting, Interconnected, Web-of-Life that exists on this spinning Blue Planet.

We can do better. The CLOCK IS TICKING!!!

Simplify!

Another thing...

Simplify! 

In all ways. So much dreck we can eliminate from our day to day. Living in the moment helps. Mindfulness is the watchword.

Know your history, but, remember you can't live in, or change, the past. Maybe you can change how you think about past events. Draw up new lessons. "Take what you need, you can leave the rest."

Expect a future, but don't put a lot of energy there. One step forward, one step at a time. Be kind to yourself and others. Be ready to improvise (see previous post),  and always be willing to recalculate your route in the face of the obstacles of reality. 

Fretting is no good. Fretting/Worrying is a Glitch in the wetware/software. Not worth the energy to fret about the past, or the future. Fretting in the moment is off-target too!

As the Dali Lama once said: "Kindness is my Religion." You can simplify all those holy texts down to adopting a simple code of kindness, with a dollop of a devil may care attitude: "damn the torpedos!"

That's good. Simple too. Simply, perfectly, good.

Yes, indeed. Simplify!

Yes... And...

Long-form improvisation. How long? A lifetime. You have to keep the game going. Morph. Evolve. Keep saying "Yes... and..."

Useful...

Ha! I think it is useful to have a Nemesis. 

Why? Helps you clarify who you are, who you aren't, what you are for, what you are against. It also illustrates that not everyone is on your side. There are people and forces that must contend with, people and forces to navigate around and thru. The world is an amazing place, but it's not all for you. So many competing interests and forces.  And enemies? There is that Biblical hard bit of advice: "But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you."

I don't know, that is a tough cookie to crumble. But maybe we can love what our enemies teach us? You know, lessons? They show us what not to do, what not to be. Maybe we can use them as mirrors, to see our own flaws, inconsistencies, dark moods, and bad acts? Point us the way to do and think better?

T&T

TRUTH AND TRANSPARENCY

TRANSPARENCY AND TRUTH

Not a bad code* to live by. It should be the goal of every conversation, every relationship. We should demand it from every institution, every company, every organization, every government. 

Clean. Simple.  Simple-minded? Maybe, but worth fighting for...

*It helps to live by a code of honor. Keep it open-ended. You know, like, be aware, alive, awake at all times. Lean to the light. Tell the truth. Be transparent. Be open-minded and open-hearted. And, for sure damn the torpedoes, the slings and arrows, the nay-sayers and soul-eaters.

Regulate and Criminalize...

Life. Right?!

Not to get too Icky, but what about all that sperm? Those little fancy-tailed sperm critters that all those young boys and men of all ages shoot off in unlikely places?   

Do we need to regulate and criminalize the random, unnecessary shooting off of sperm? 

Bad Faith Juju...

I am not a lawyer. But I am fascinated by the Law and how it is wielded to protect the powerful and subjugate the weak. I am also fascinated by language, and it's many uses for both good and evil.

The draft opinion by the White Christian Ayatollah Black-Robed Supreme Court Judge Samuel Alito, striking down Roe v Wade (see previous two posts),  is based on this slim reed: “the inescapable conclusion is that the right to abortion is not deeply rooted in the nation’s history and traditions”.

By the same logic you could take away reproductive rights from Women, Ban Gay Rights, Trans-Rights, Voting by Black Folks, Voting by Women, Marriage Between Races, you know, you could basically take down the Progressive Movement that has been unfolding over the last 100 years or so by the roots.

It is a dastardly bad-faith opinion. Seems Alito is saying that the only rights that are "real" are the rights of Privileged White Men. Everyone else is subject to their whims and dictates.

Gob-smacking. Bad Juju.  Bad Karma.  I do hope this will wake up the forces of progressivism. We can take nothing for granted. Vote. Organize. As Bob Marley once sang: "GET UP, STAND UP, STAND UP FOR YOUR RIGHTS..."

Witch Trials Coming Next!

Okay. So maybe that black-robed White, Christian Ayatollah who decided that only white men have any rights at least rendered a legally sound opinion when striking down the rights of Women to have autonomy over their own bodies?

Hmmm.... well... er... not... so... much...

And you know, this is a wider attack on any sense of privacy, and personal rights...

1st from Adam Serwer:  "Alito’s Plan to Repeal the 20th Century"

"If you are an American with a young daughter, she will grow up in a world without the right to choose when and where she gives birth, and in which nothing restrains a state from declaring her womb its property, with all the invasive authorities that implies."

“This draft does the same thing: It envisions a notion of federalism so weak, so toothless, so bereft of substance that the federal government has no legitimate role in protecting women from states imposing forced births upon them.”

"Aside from rights specifically mentioned in the text of the Constitution, Alito argues, only those rights “deeply rooted in the nation’s history in tradition” deserve its protections. This is as arbitrary as it is lawless. Alito is saying there is no freedom from state coercion that conservatives cannot strip away if conservatives find that freedom personally distasteful. The rights of heterosexual married couples to obtain contraception, or of LGBTQ people to be free from discrimination, are obvious targets. But other rights that Americans now take for granted could easily be excluded by this capricious reasoning."

2nd from Laura Bassett:

"In Leaked Abortion Decision, Justice Alito Relies on Jurist Who Supported Marital Rape, Executed 'Witches'"

YIKES! Witch Trials!??!? 

"Also among Hale’s greatest hits: sentencing two women to death for witchcraft at a time when “the more enlightened” people of the 17th century had already begun to doubt the existence of witchcraft—an opinion the Salem, Massachusetts, judges relied on in their notoriously deadly witch trials. (According to The Boston Globe, 25 people were killed during those trials: “All 19 who were executed through a hanging died at Proctor’s Ledge. Five others died in jail, and one was crushed to death.”)

It’s quite fitting that Alito would cite this guy’s opinion on abortion in deciding to revoke the right from the American people, nearly a half century after Roe legalized the health procedure in 1973. The reason Roe was needed in the first place is that American women were dying from unsafe, so-called “back-alley” abortions.

As many have pointed out: The movement to ban abortion is not about and has never been about protecting fetuses. It started as a way to galvanize conservative voters in support of racial segregation—to motivate misogynistic people who really only care about punishing women to also turn out in support of the entire right-wing agenda." - Laura Bassett in Jezebel

Tyranny of the Minority...

It looks like the White Christian Ayatollahs of the Right sitting on the blatantly partisan and supremely corrupt Supreme Court have decided that Women are just passive, biological receptacles for Men to do with as they please. This does not bode well for anyone who thinks they have rights that conflict with the views of the Ayatollahs. 

This will/should not stand.  Check out this "Brief History of Abortion Law in America:"  "Abortion is as old as antiquity. As long as people have been having sex, there have been women having abortions. The American debate over whether a woman should have the right to end her pregnancy is a relatively new phenomenon. Indeed, for America’s first century, abortion wasn’t even banned in a single US state."

The USA is not a Christian nation. It is not a Theocracy. The right-wing minority should not be tyrannizing the rest of us with their retrograde religious hokum. This decision also spells trouble for other "rights" that many of us have taken for granted. The Ayatollahs of the Right are coming for you! WTF.

Time to organize, to march, to vote like every vote and every election matters, because you know, our Democracy, our Freedom and our expectations of Equality for All, and our Very Lives depend on it.

What About Dat?!

Then there is  WHATABOUTISM: "a variant of the tu quoque logical fallacy that attempts to discredit an opponent's position by charging hypocrisy without directly refuting or disproving the argument." 

We Tricky Monkeys love to play the "what about game;" it is a scourge, it is maddening, it makes hash of sensible arguments. It is employed across the globe. Sometimes you just can't get past it. It's a deal-killer, brain-numbing, a great tool in the fabulous disinformation dystopia.

Sometimes the only thing to do is walk away.  WHATABOUTISM is a dead, black hole for any kind of sensible discussion. Cooler heads must refuse to play.

Smart > Smarter, Stupid > Stupider...

The best thing I've read describing the Internet: The Internet makes Smart People Smarter, and Stupid People Stupider. 

Maybe there aren't as many Stupid People as it appears. You know, they are the ones who talk the loudest, and with the most force. Often Stupid dominates the conversation. The Internet gives Stupid People the ability to feed off other Stupid People. 

It's a problem...