A priviledge, an honor, a challenge, a mystery.

Yes. There's that idea of trusting your gut. Just knowing that something is really right, or really wrong. A sneaking suspicion, a sinking feeling, a dazzling revelation. There is a gut/brain connection that sends an undeniable feeling of revealed "truth" that floods your body and brain. Ignore intuition at your own peril.

At the same time, we are always swimming in uncertainty: "a state of limited knowledge where it is impossible to exactly describe the existing state, a future outcome, or more than one possible outcome."

It is a natural element of the Universe. The Sea of Uncertainty. Sure. Yes. The Human Realm is all about limits, limits to knowledge, wisdom, insight. We really don't know what we don't know. We really don't  know what we do know.

We are arbitrary, uncertain, tenuous, temporary, shaky beings in a roiling, boiling soup of experience. We are beings of experiences. Each experience is unique. We are uniquely singular beings experiencing everything. It's a hell of a way to live. A priviledge, an honor, a challenge, a mystery. 

Great Worry. Great Uncertainty. Vote Blue.

We are pulling our horns in a bit. Chilling. Turning to Art, Poetry, Literature, Music. Taking care and being careful. The Arts have always been a refuge and an inspirer. The best of Humanity can be found in the Humanities. 

Tuning out the madness, and the media frenzy. Sure, my favorite President Old Honest Joe is old. No shit, Sherlock. But he is also a great President. Our best Hope of keeping our Democracy healthy & thriving. 

Smarter people than I are predicting dire consequences if we let the blathering Fascist heading up the Republican Party win this upcoming election. Something I just can't stomach or entertain. Trump = Vomit-Inducing. What are the stakes?

Timothy Snyder, Historian & Author of "On Tyranny," - Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century kind of lays it out simply and cogently. Yeah, "hair on fire," "pants on fire," WTF.  

Great worry. Great uncertainty. That goes with being a Wide-Awake Citizen of the Globe.Yikes!

It's All Right

Yes. I pretend to be a "keep calm carry on" kind of person. But, really, at heart, I am quite the Excitable Boy (hat-tip to Warren Zevon).

Yesterday, was a Holiday. Which meant time to reflect and listen. I listened to my heart and played various versions (Willie Nelson, Allen Toussaint and Paul himself) of Paul Simon's great song American Tune:

I don’t know a soul who’s not been battered

I don’t have a friend who feels at ease

I don’t know a dream that’s not been shattered

Or driven to its knees

Oh, but it’s all right, it’s all right

For lived so well so long

Still, when I think of the road

We’re traveling on

I wonder what went wrong

I can’t help it, I wonder what’s gone wrong

And I dreamed I was dying

And I dreamed that my soul rose unexpectedly

And looking back down at me

Smiled reassuringly

And I dreamed I was flying

And high above my eyes could clearly see

The Statue of Liberty

Sailing away to sea

And I dreamed I was flying

I started the morning in a pool of tears. I have been working thru this idea that a part of the American Dream has died (see previous two posts). I have been walking around in a cloud of pissed-off-ness, (reminded me of my young late teenaged pissed-off years), and then, the sadness descended. It was a bit of a renewal yesterday. The tears were actually a necessary cleanse. I found myself crying for all those suffering in the world, for the deep fucked-up-ness of humanity.

In the afternoon we biked the lakefront path. All the common folks were out in full force. Playing, cooking, dancing, prancing, living. Yes. It seemed the world was seething with overflowing Life. And in times of crisis my partner and I always turn to art. We listened to Bruce Springsteen's fabulous, over-powering, life-affirming "The Rising," (2002), "Rise Up!" And we watched Robert Altman's masterpiece movie, "Nashville" (1975).  Final song, "It Don't Worry Me." But of of course, we are, and always have been rightly worried about the health of our little American experiment.

Listening to and watching all that great work was a total healing, a renewal & a rebirth. Funny, how great art works on the heart and soul. We also had a Mexican Fiesta dinner, celebrating our multi-cultural melting pot miracle. The best of America, folks and cultures from all over the world meeting, melding  & feeding into the life-blood of America.

This morning: calm, cool, collected. Back to Paul Simon:

Oh, it’s all right, it’s all right

It’s all right, it’s all right

You can’t be forever blessed

Still, tomorrow’s going to be another working day

And I’m trying to get some rest

That’s all I’m trying to get some rest

Paul Simon (1973)

The American Dream, Tattered, Battered, Manhandled...

Funny. It's July 4th, 2024. Independence Day. Should we be celebrating? The Supreme Court just manhandled (also see previous post), the Constitutional Order of this little Democratic Experiment in which we reside. Is that Irony?

There have been a few voices, I especially think of Teri Kanefield, Heather Cox Richardson, Timothy Snyder, professors, writers, historians who have been warning us that the Law will not save our Democracy, or our sorry, godforsaken asses. Reading these learned folks will make you smarter. Unlike the flailing media, the blathering, talking-heads, the political pundits, the TV legal eagles who are almost always wrong about everything, and who will most definitely make you dumber and more confused.

Only the informed practice of Democracy will save Democracy. Voters, an informed populace, voting for their own interests and those of their fellow citizens, folks voting for folks who respect the rule of law, the Constitution, and the Progressive agenda of Human Rights for all Humans. AND voters voting out the folks who betray that trust and those interests.

Contrary to the Supreme Court, despite their anti-constitutional cloaking of Presidents in a bubble of immunity, Presidents are not Kings. They can be voted out, they can be impeached by Senators and Members of the House who are dedicated to good government, responsibility, the rule of law and accoutability. If Presidents, Senators, Representives betray the voters, the common ones, the Citizens of America, those failed politicians, can be thrown onto the dust-heap of history. Of course, Supreme Justices, aren't really supreme. They are just human beings too. Flawed, biased, partisan. Giving them life-time terms seems to be a major fucking fly in the ointment of our Democracy.

The law is written by humans, interpreted by humans, wielded by humans, defied by humans  Often the law has been used by the powerful to protect the powerful and to punish those less powerful. It can be a nasty tool of oppression. It is a tangled web. How to get better Judges who interpret the law with respect for equal treatment, justice and a progressive agenda? Elect enlightened leaders who then appoint enlightened judges. Not a quick fix, not easy, for sure.

And often the voters get it wrong. 

They vote against their own interests, or they vote for clearly flawed Human Beings who turn out to betray the solemn oaths they swear to. Sometimes, lately, sadly often, those elected Public Servants let that power go to their heads. Mayhem, bad action, bad blood, corruption, and dastardly bad policy can result. Turns out the present day Republican Party is headed up by a very good example of a deeply corrupt fuck. And he has an army of wanna be corrupt fucks too.

One can only hope that the better angels conspire to send that mofo and his movement packing. But, you know, in a Democracy, sometimes your side wins, and sometimes your side loses. That's the way the thing works. No matter what, you have to keep your head, and stand up, and speak for the things in which you believe. And vote. Sure it's seems a bit paltry, a drop in the ocean, but it's the thing to do. And of course, keep Hope alive. Hope dies last. Lean to the light. Take care. Don't give up the fight. That's fucking America. 

Naseous Ball of Shite...

When I was a kid, my father would often lay a bit of Vince Lombardi wisdom on my gnarly, frequently alienated brow: "When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going."

That line would annoy the hell out of me. Now, of course, it is one of my go-to mottos. Although, it is a bit of a mystery, just where are the tough going?!  I have been in a bubble of pissed-off-ness ever since the Supreme Court unveiled it's naseous ball of shite, their recent Presidential Immunity Ruling.  Tough to swallow. My reaction: Tough Times, Tough Shit.

I am not a Constitutional Scholar, or a lawyer, just a concerned Citizen with a fairly good reading comprehension. At least according to me. Suddenly, I come to the conclusion that I have been wrong about everything. The hard-core, right-wing fanatics on the court have made an audcious power-grab and fundamentally altered my understanding of good old USA. Instead of this magnificent idea of equal treatment under the law, we are now being told that the law is designed to protect the powerful and to punish everyone else. Like I said, FUCK!

No one is above the law. 

Ha. That was the basic idea. Well, the court, in a 6-3 ruling trashed that idea. Gob-smackingly disappointing & infuriating. They have carved out a broad bubble of immunity for Presidents. Yikes. I am not a hair-or-pants-on-fire-type, but this seems fundamentally un-American. Our little Democratic experiment is being destroyed from the inside out.  

Don't take my word for it. Let's turn to Sonia Sotomayer, one of the black-robed judges who laid-down a "pants on fire," furiously damning dissent:

“The President of the United States is the most powerful person in the country, and possibly the world. When he uses his official powers in any way, under the majority’s reasoning, he now will be insulated from criminal prosecution,” Sotomayor wrote.

“Orders the Navy’s Seal Team 6 to assassinate a political rival? Immune. Organizes a military coup to hold onto power? Immune. Takes a bribe in exchange for a pardon? Immune. Immune, immune, immune.

“Let the President violate the law, let him exploit the trappings of his office for personal gain, let him use his official power for evil ends. Because if he knew that he may one day face liability for breaking the law, he might not be as bold and fearless as we would like him to be. That is the majority’s message today.

“Even if these nightmare scenarios never play out, and I pray they never do, the damage has been done. The relationship between the President and the people he serves has shifted irrevocably. In every use of official power, the President is now a king above the law.” - Sonia Sotomayer

Disillusioning...

Some days you are just out to sea. Floating, flailing, unsure if there is a way to get back to shore. "Everything you know is wrong." That was the theme, the motto yesterday. All the news of the day was bad, Humans in positions of authority looked like corrupt, bad-faith actors willing to trash our little American experiment. It was all deeply disillusioning. WTF?! I fall back on Dylan's great line: "Power and Greed and Corruptible seed seem to be all that there is..."

I am with the Decent Old Man...

I am going to wade into the messy fracas. Not always smart. Everyone has an opinion, and everyone likes to pummel you with their opinion. It's just a very Human thing. There is a lot of heat, worry, & mindless chatter about Honest Joe and this recent somewhat faltering debate performance. Remember it wasn't really a debate, as usual, just an ugly, not very informative, hyperbolic TV spectacle.

Sure Honest Joe is old. 81 years old and counting. He's getting older every day, I mean, every minute. His clock is ticking, no doubt, just like it's ticking for each and every one of us. So anyway, it's not a surprise that he is old, he was old in 2020 when he crushed his opponent in the election and he's older now. Everyone seems to forget that in 2020 Joe ended up with an impressive popular and electoral win, more votes than any other candidate for President ever, more general election votes than anyone else in the History of the USA.

And Honest Joe has been a very successful President. A long list of accomplishments. He has a fabulous record and a great team. Has he slowed down a bit? Sure. But one bad TV performance is not the story. A great champion for Democracy, and America, that's the story.

Of course, it's the other guy who should be hounded out of the race. You know the Toxic-Racist-Fascist-Ever-Lying-Fountain-Of-Ugliness-Stupidity-Bad-Faith-Etc. That guy is a threat to our way of Life & Governing.

So sure, I see clearly. I see can look closely at Honest Joe and I have to adjust my own view on things. Let's say, it's now Honest Old Joe. Amen. I am with the decent Old Man. I mean the Old Guy is the Guy, the one person with the best chance of  defeating that Toxic-Black-Hole-of-Shite. Honest Old Joe is the man of the moment. Like it or not. Yes. Fighting for Democracy and a Better America. 4 more years. Damn the torpedoes.