Work Arounds!

Work Arounds!

Think of our Body Politic as a Body. A collection of cells, organs, systems. All working together. Alive.

Think of our current President as a nasty virus, a pathogen - an infectious agent that causes disease. The 45 Prez brings out the worst in us. The symptoms of our current infection include: Fever, Muscle aches, Coughing, Sneezing, Runny nose, Headache, Chills, Diarrhea, Vomiting, Rash, Weakness

But the antibodies are swarming through the Body Politic. They are attacking and neutralizing the pathogen!

Work Arounds! 

Rule of Law. Democracy. Sanctuary Cities. Citizen Volunteers. Voting Rights Advocates. Planned Parenthood. ACLU. Greenpeace. Progressives in all walks of life. Fighting. Day by day. Fighting for a better, healthier Body Politic.

And maybe, just maybe this current nasty spell will lead to a healthier Body Politic. I do believe!

Wonderful Writing & Reporting from Vanity Fair!

Eyes on the story of our time. This Vanity Fair article is just fabulous. Fabulous. Wonderful writing & reporting. It gives me hope. There are people out there, clear-seeing, intelligent, perceptive. Not fooled. Not running down rabbit holes of disinformation.

So many great quotes and lines, Sarah Ellison is a writer/reporter of great distinction. Here are some highlights...

"A combination of self-assurance and utter ignorance is a defining trait of this White House, along with cocky vulgarity and casual cruelty."

"As a former West Wing staffer from a previous administration told me, speaking about Jared and Ivanka, “There’s nothing more obstructive and distracting and unhelpful than to have a bunch of stupid apolitical family members calling all the shots.”"

“I haven’t had anything to do with them since they moved,” said one New York friend, “and it is because the day that man gave an inaugural speech, what am I going to say? ‘What the fuck is wrong with you?’ ”

“What is off-putting about them is they do not grasp their essential irrelevance,” this veteran told me. “They think they are special.”

"Jared Kushner once described himself as “first among equals” in the West Wing, and one wonders as time goes on if he might be inclined to drop the latter part of that description. “Trump is emotionally dependent on his son-in-law and his daughter . . . but they can’t do anything for him,” said the Washington veteran. “All they can do is make him feel better about what his life has come to.”"

Commentary from Me: No. They aren't special. And they work for a Dick. They will bail, sooner or later. And turn on each other. A drama full of sound and fury. Let it come down!

Impeach the Freaking Dick!

Yes. It's time. How many months? Seems like a freaking eternity. Time for the Dick (see two previous posts) to go. I know we can't demand Congress to just Impeach the Dick, because he is a Dick, that's probably too crude, too simple, too reasonable. No. We need a list of charges, or as they say, we need a list of "Articles of Impeachment."

Let's turn to Lawfare, and Benjamin Wittes. He is learned. He is sober. He is intelligent. He knows his shit! What say you Mr. Wittes? "It's Time: Congress Needs to Open a Formal Impeachment Inquiry!" And what are the articles?

1. His abuses of power, most obviously exemplified by his conduct with respect to the investigations into his campaign’s collusion with Russia.
2. His failures of moral leadership.
3. His abandonment of the basic duties of his office.

Also, of course, and maybe most damning of all, he is a Total Dick! Impeach the Freaking Dick!

The Dick Era (Part 2)!

Yes, I for one, really love this framing of our time. The Dick Era (see previous post), it explains everything. It's like a weight was lifted off my shoulders as soon as I articulated it. Maybe it's just the "knowing" what's coming that is totally liberating?

I no longer need to wonder "what's going on?!" The answer: The worst. The worst actions, for the worst reasons. So what can we expect? Every day? Every week? Every Tweet?! The worst!

So, for instance, I am now confident we can expect:

The Dick tries his best to derail the Russia Investigation. He fires Mueller. He preemptively pardons everyone implicated. He pardons himself. He destroys the rule of law, the Constitution, and dares Congress to do anything about it.

The Dick tries to divert us by ginning up a War, and he will gin up the War of Wars, since he is such as Dick, nuclear war actually has a certain appeal to him. Historically Dickish! 

Will it rile up the population? Yes. So, well, he thinks, "Bring it on!" The Dick will continue to stir up Racial Tensions, insulting everyone who happens to disagree with him. The Dick will continue to embrace the KKK, American Nazis, White Supremacists because they are all little Dicks too.

The Dick will attack good Americans of all stripes. Anyone who doesn't bow down to his absolute Dickishness. The Dick will provoke a Constitutional Crisis. He will shred all norms of good, honest behavior. He will push past the limits of decency. Why? Because he is a Dick. A total Dick.

Figure the Dick revels in pissing people off. He will continue to piss people off. It's his only way to get attention, and he craves, demands attention, even if it's actually just total and complete condemnation from all corners.

Expect the Dick to be a total Dick. At all times. Where does this lead?! Who knows? The Dick has no boundaries, no limits. Being a Dick is not a very good governing philosophy. It's not a movement. It is a dead-end. 

The Dick will dare anyone to take him on. He will dare good people to take action. How long will folks put up with the Dick?The Dick will go down in flames, kicking and screaming. Being a total Dick is all he has, and he will go down in flames in full Dick-hood glory...

The Dick Era!

Let's say I have a new default mode. Assume the worst. The worst actions, for the worst reasons. We are in a new era. The Dick Era. A major Dick. Practiced at the Art of Dickishness. It explains everything. Don't need to overthink, don't need to fret, or overtax our brains. "He is a Dick!"

Plain and simple. 

"A Dick does as a Dick does!" It helps to know what's going down. It gives us a framework to process the evil, the ignorance, the bluster, the bad blood, the backward, racist, misogynistic, xenphobic, demeanor. The Dick is just a man. A little, pathetic, hopeless, man. Probably beyond help, although some of his Dickishness is really a cry for help.

We don't need to waste brain-cells on this Dick. We need to figure a work-around. A counter-strategy, a reistance. A Dick. He is such a dick: he is ineffective, inconsequential, inept. Being a Dick is a bankrupt movement. He and this era: a fluke, a pause, a side-track. A bad joke. Sick. The Dick is Sick.

The Dick has no staying power. Dickishness is a dead-end. We will get through this. Maybe the rest of us will learn, and reduce the Dickishness in ourselves. Let's make this era of the Dick, a time of learning. A time of healing!

Buddism, Evolutionary Psychology, Meditation!

"Why Buddism is True."  Provocative title. They say it's a bit of a misnomer. Sounds like author Robert Wright is onto essential things. Wright is an interesting case, an Evolutionary Psychologist a student of Buddism, and a Meditator. These are things I am also onto.

No big promises. No eternal life. No miracles. No salvation. But how about silence, focus, attention, a bit of empathy, a sense of calm, a certain well-being, a connection to all things in the world?

Sean Illing: "By “true” Wright means that Buddhism’s “diagnosis of the human predicament is fundamentally correct, and that its prescription is deeply valid and urgently important.” That diagnosis goes something like this: the human condition is defined by constant and ultimately inexplicable suffering. Meditation isn’t a way out of this suffering. But it helps us transcend it by teaching us to see it clearly for what it is, and by making us more attuned to our emotive impulses and the behaviors they produce."

And: "Wright believes meditation, if not quite a solution to this problem, is at least a corrective. By training us to focus our attention on the present moment, to the breath and the body, we can start to see most of our thoughts as petty and our emotions as fleeting. Through this practice, the self starts to dissolve and we can be more aware of other people, and build something like a broader consciousness."

Rachel Maddow, Not to be Missed!

Have you been watching Rachel Maddow? If not, you are missing out. What are you missing? The story of our time. And the best person today in our media landscape to explain, and unravel all the twisted threads of an amazing saga. It's a story of espionage, skull-duggery, collusion, obstruction of justice, money-laundering, extortion, hacking, black-mail, double-dealing, bribery, disinformation, trolling, bankruptcy, pee tapes, a stolen election, a fake president. Rachel knows how to weave a compelling narrative. And she takes the time to delve into and thru this mad hall of mirrors. Thrilling journalism. Not to be missed.

Don't FK with Us Don't FK Without Us!

My Lady-Friend turned me onto this button. I for one think it is brilliant. Sometimes a phrase or tagline does the complete trick. Says so much, with so few words. I have a perfect hat to display one of these, my button is pink, it will sit nicely on my fuchsia  Newsboy Cap. Proceeds go to Planned Parenthood...

The White Racist Majority!

The great Civil Right Activist, Politician and Diplomat, Andrew Young, was on the radio this morning. Remember Andrew marched with Martin Luther King. He was there when history was made.

Andrew kept using the phrase "the racist majority." Kind of brought me back to earth. Sometimes I get over-excited, extra-positive for progress in America. And this subject of "race," as in any group into which humans can be divided according to their sharedphysical or genetic characteristics is a tangled web, a killer conundrum, the original sin of America.

So, yes, there is activism, and protest, and progressive politics. But we must remember that African Americans are only around 13% of the population of the U.S. They are out-numbered. Any issue that comes up regarding African American rights, and Black Lives Matter, has to take into account that America's white "racist majority" has the final call.

White America owns pretty much everything. White America is in control. If there is to be a Progressive Politics, it must be based on a Rainbow Coalition of like-minded, progressive beings. Black Lives Matters, for instance, needs to appeal to and to peel off some of that White "racist majority," in order for their movement to succeed; a portion of White America needs to exit the racist majority, and join and identify with a different, rainbow-like group.

Some of us have no problem doing this, but we are probably a minority of the racist majority. So progress is tentative, partial, and can easily be snatched away. If too many Whites feel threatened, or slighted, or left behind, all our lovely progress can be crushed. Sobering. Important to remind ourselves of the reality of the situation.

We Become What We Love & Hate!

Maybe we become what we Love and Hate. Maybe we wear our love and hatred inside and outside of our bodies. Life is this process. We are constantly becoming. Our DNA, our Genetic Entity has a blue-print, a plan, and our bodies are continually evolving, going through the steps in each stage of our lives.

We grow, we age. We become one thing, then another, then another. I think everything counts. Every thought, every breath, every heartbeat. So yes, there is the physical instrument that we inhabit, and then there is the thought-train we conjure, and the spirit we embody. Each of these create us, make us, who we are.

So, right. Love and Hate... what we love and hate... we wear those things like a cloak. And that cloak actually seeps into us, leaches into our bones. That's what I think...

The Key To Everything...

In my Universe, there is a center. What is that center? The Good Work. What is the Good Work?" The creative life: art, music, dance, poetry, theater, literature, performance.

I have spent much of my life pursuing and carrying on the Good Work. It's best when it totally consumes me. Or I totally commit to it, when I put every fiber of my being into the Good Work.

The Good Work isn't always good. I mean, sometimes it falls short, or gets side-tracked. Mainly it fails when I don't bring the right amount of energy and dedication to the table. Usually this is not intentional.

How to be totally present? In the moment? Every moment? Not easy. But essential.

To do the Good Work you need a single-minded focus. A crystal-clear intention. Complete, total dedication. You drop your ego and plunge into the work.

You never quite get there. You glimpse the Promised Land, it's out there, you just know it. And that's what keeps you working. That and the doing. The doing is the doing, and that's the secret of the Good Work. You can only get there by doing, and the doing is the key to everything.

The Side-Show/The Main Show

I do a lot of thinking, writing, singing, playing, talking. I come from a line of talkers. The longer I'm on the planet it seems to me the talking, the making of words is not the main show, probably just a side-show. The only show we can really get our hands around.

The main show is beyond us. Beyond our feeble imaginings. There are bigger things afoot, bigger things we are implicated in, bigger things we are carried along in, things we can't understand; we don't get what's really going on. We just don't. Not made to understand.

And maybe we can't know. We have to bury some truths deep in the ground, deep in our consciousness. We need to carry on in the world. We carry secrets. We hide them, we can't face them.

Some of this is just basic survival. There are toxic thoughts. Thoughts that can destroy us. There are toxic actions. Toxic words and feelings. There are so many things to avoid. Other things to embrace. How to know which is which and what to do? That's some of the figuring we left with.

So we think, write, sing, play, talk. It's a sideshow. Not the thing. But it has to be enough. Is it enough? Who knows? We could talk about it, but sometimes the talk is just chatter, and sometimes it's best to embrace the silence.

Another Worst, Worse than the Last Worst...

He had his worst week again. It's sort of like a weekly "ground-hog day." It is some kind of amazing achievement, to continue to find a new "worst." Can he keep it up? I think the odds are good, quite good. Pretty sure we all have lots more worsts coming. Strap in, it's gonna be a bumpy ride.

From Tears to Curse Words in 10 Minutes!

Admittedly, I'm a little unsteady this morning. Up late, up early. A bad combo for me. I flick on the radio (why?) and I listen to an African American Woman describe an episode of casual racism that she experienced at the tender age of 5 years old.  I sit listening to her story, and the flood of unbidden tears pour out. Tears fall like a summer rain.

Moments later I hear that the Evangelical Community is still sticking with our Abomination of a President. WTF? How is it possible? How can these supposedly "religious folk" swallow the bile, the hatred, the racism, the misogyny, the xenophobia, the selfishness, childishness, and blow-hard bullying?

If you stand with the man, you stand for absolutely nothing. Nothing Evangelical or religious about it. I am fuming. Sputtering with anger. Like I said, WTF?!

From tears to curse words in less than 10 minutes.  Good morning!

A Test of Character - He's Failed!

Character. Remember how we've talked of character? "The mental and moral qualities distinctive to an individual."

People would tell us, "character matters." Usually the Moralists among us. A Moralist: "a person who tries to force or teach other people to behave in ways he or she considers to be most correct and honest."

Put a person in a position of Authority. Or put a person under stress. And watch what they do. How they act. What they say. This will tip you to their character.

The history of theater is based on this little game. The history of History too.

One reason we love Democracy. It spreads the power and authority around. Doesn't give one person all the power. Supposedly, if Democracy is working correctly, it is the people who cast their votes who have the ultimate power. At least that's the theory. Doesn't always work that way. 

But anyway, spreading the power around is sort of a safety valve. Think of a situation of concentrated power and you think of Despots, Mad Kings, Genocide, Crazy Wars.

Charlottesville has revealed the character of the current President. The curtain has been lifted. What is underneath that blustery, pile of bilious fat is ugly. Very, very, ugly. It was an event that "tested his character," and he failed, miserably, spectacularly.

Time for the safety valve to kick on. Big time.

How Low Can He Go?

How low can he go? Pretty damn low. I mean, yes, I had very low expectations for this President. But he has certainly exceeded them. By miles.

I would think siding with White Supremacists, the KKK and Ne-Nazis is pretty much rock-bottom. How do you top that? How much more cretinous can he get? I suppose we all shall soon see.

You would think it would be easy to choose sides. As Joe Biden said, "There is only one side." The side against racism, bigotry, etc. But not for this man. His core support is made up of the worst of the worst. He just can't condemn them, cannot separate himself from them, because he is of them.

Remember "the Greatest Generation?" They fought the Nazis. They liberated France. They sacrificed, they died, and they saved the Free World. 

Remember "Raiders of the Lost Ark?" Remember all those movies? Whenever Hollywood has needed a bad guy, they have rolled out the Nazis.

Nazis are bad. Really, really, really bad. Against everything America stands for. Our President is out of step with America. It's appalling. Bewildering. Despicable.

Josh Marshall points out the obvious:

"With Trump, he has a revanchist racist politics because he is a revanchist racist. Once you accept that, a lot falls into place. All the heroic and increasingly nonsensical perambulations of misunderstandings, inexperience, missed opportunities, stubbornness and all the rest are not needed. It all falls into place.

What we have in this Times article is the more direct evidence, a confirmation of what we should already know. His advisors know this is what he thinks. They apparently hear it frequently. They were shocked to here him say in public “opinions that the president had long expressed in private.”

I do think he is beginning to bring Americans together. Democrats and Republicans. Americans from all walks of life. This is not acceptable. This man is an abomination. How low will he go?

The Fundamental Stuff is Really, Really Difficult.

I do think as a human being you spend lots of your time trying to figure things out that can't be figured. Or solve things that can't be solved. That doesn't mean you stop trying. But over time you begin to realize there are limits to what you can do, what you can know, what you can figure out.

There are mysteries in the world. And the fundamental stuff is really, really difficult. And maybe the answers we are looking for don't really exist.

Why are we here? Why is there evil in the world? What is wrong with me? And what is wrong with my fellow human beings? Where are we going? Is there some end-game or purpose?

Maybe we only get to ask the questions. Maybe the question is the answer. Maybe. Maybe. That's the kind of Zen conundrum that those Monks are always floating by us. And maybe the answer is a question and not really an answer at all. And maybe we just have to live with that. As best we can. Maybe.

It's Actually Pathology!

Yeah, the more I think of it, the more it seems so obvious. This "White Supremacy"  thing is actually pathology. We don't think or talk of it that way. We talk about it as a political philosophy, a movement. We give it more credence, and credibility than it deserves.

It's not normal behavior. It's not normal thinking. It is sickness, pathology. Those white folks with torches, KKK costumes, screaming their bile, and their unmitigated hatred, are not healthy human beings.

They are sick in the head. They need help. We think it's just ignorance, but I think it's a determined ignorance. Ignorance as a choice. These folks do not have healthy minds. They need therapy. 

I'd recommend, talk therapy. I'd recommend meditation. I'd recommend a better diet. And a more expansive reading list. I guess, we are left with the conundrum, how do we uplift a blighted mind? A mind is a terrible thing to waste...

No Superiority!

A true leader. An example for us all. There is light to be found in the midst of the darkness... yes, there is...

I come from a long line of dead white people. I am a mixture of Polish, Irish, German, French, British, and Russian or Serbian, or whatever. Pretty much a mongrel. White. Pretty damn white.

I just don't get it. 

I don't get Racism. I don't get White Nationalism. I don't think one race is better than another. I don't think America is a fundamentally "white nation." I don't think we should keep people separate from each other. 

Do I have any prejudices, any latent racism in me at all? I don't know. I am a human being. Not perfect. If I do have any prejudices, I try to suppress them, bury them, fight against them, because I know prejudice and racism is just ignorance. I am against ignorance!

No superiority. 

I subscribe to the Dalai Lama's fundamental idea: "We are all Human Beings first!" All the same. Every one of us on the planet. Race, Nation, Tribe, these things confuse us, fundamentally, they don't really, really matter. We are all Human. 

Being human isn't easy. We are easily confused. We are ignorant of our ignorance. So yes, even those people spouting hatred, preaching nationalism & racism, are human beings. I think they are wrong, deluded, filled with ignorance, they have a misguided view of the world and themselves. Maybe they are sick, have "damaged psyches?" Maybe we should think of them as people who need help, who need therapy?

The hope is that people can wake up, and realize what they thought they knew is not what is. We have to hope that people can educate themselves, and learn to be better beings. We are all just "works in progress..."

There Lies Madness.

There lies madness...

Anyone talking about nuclear war, anyone making threats, anyone promising devastation for a country, a city, a people, there lies madness, nihilism.

Hiroshima. Does anyone remember? Does anyone really, really, want to go there? What kind of species are we? How can we put such devastating power in the hands of such obviously over-matched leaders?

Bluster. Arrogance. Ignorance. Madness. There lies madness.