Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Political Football

               Isn’t it a delight to know we can watch freakishly large humans pulverize each other every fall and winter for the next ten years.  The owners and players of the NFL have been having a half billion dollar spat a week for the past eighteen weeks to determine who gets what of their nine billion dollar goose egg.  When they figured out the goose was about to be cooked, they miraculously found a compromise.  Are you ready for some football?
               The idiots in Washington DC have a week to put a band aid on the American economy.  They have been posturing for as long as the NFL parties and have one week left to get their act together or who knows what will happen.  Will some miracle solution will be found just at the last possible moment and both sides will claim victory?  What if they don’t figure it out?  Then what?  One thing is certain, no incumbent is safe on my ballot come election time.  I am sick of the political games of worrying about being re-elected and not voting their conscience or representing their constituents.  It seems to be a game of chicken.  Professional politicians should be outlawed.  This issue should have been resolved months ago, but egos and power mongering delays getting anything done.
               Corporations now own and run this country.  Their sole purpose is to make a profit without regard to the well being of anything else.  Recent history shows that taxing wealthy individuals and corporations produces a robust economy and employment.  Just look at the JFK and Clinton administrations.  George W. cut taxes for the wealthiest and look at what Obama inherited.  I heard that if those tax cuts were repealed and nothing else was done, the deficit would disappear in nine years.  Us pawns on the political chess board are powerless because the Supreme Court allows corporations to buy and sell our so-called representatives.        
                There is an abundance of government waste.  I have read many contract bids and they are so full of minutia, it’s no wonder every thing they buy is over priced.  War and Peace is a short story compared to a document to solicit procuring a simple box.  This is just one example.  They dip into different money pots to make it look like they saved the taxpayer money.  They are as guilty as business in their deceit and greed.  Is there any wonder why the downtrodden tries to play the same game?  I would be the richest man in the world if I had an exclusive on supplying them with red tape.
Unemployment in my county is now 10.1%.  Since I have been virtually unemployed for five years, I don’t even figure into that number.  I’d like to make an honest living doing something worthwhile.  For five freaking years, I have searched and come up empty.  I refuse to place my DNA amongst the dirty money of war machines, insurance swindlers and stock brokers.  This may sound radical, but how about creating real jobs that produce additional taxpayers to solve the debt crisis?  I guess it’s too much to hope for real change. 
Politicians have perfected the art of punting the football back and forth across the aisle, but fumble, drop passes and only know how to run for office.  There is never any scoring and the people are the ones who are relentlessly penalized.  Maybe it’s time to vote for the candidate with the least amount of campaign contributions.  Voting in my state is now all by mail.  When I lose my house, how will they know to deliver my ballot to the storefront that shows the football games on their big screens?
 

Monday, July 25, 2011

The Map Was Broken

               I borrow those spoken words from Bill Morrissey in a song about two guys in the woods looking for the perfect watering hole to fish.  By all accounts, Bill’s life was full of internal roadblocks, yet was able to spew prolific poetry in song.  He found the path to Heaven in his sleep July 23rd.  I knew of Bill through his music, I knew of Amy Winehouse through her troubles.  I read a blog today who called her a genius.  Far from being the glittery pop culture idol who was only famous to me for being troubled who also left us this past weekend, Bill was real.  Who was the genius?
               When I was a census taker last summer, I often used the phrase the map is broken.  Addresses are one thing, the map of life is another.  So many people played by the rules expecting a comfortable life in their later years only see the greedy steal their humble blood, sweat and tears.  Big business doesn’t care about their people or the ones they claim to serve.  There’s money in building war toys and what do the broken spirits enjoy on television?  Shows like Survivor and Big Brother to see how the best scumbag wins the prize.  Glorifying slime balls is entertaining or enriching?  Others choose to ignore the big picture and just try to get by quietly hoping not to be noticed.
                 Is there any wonder why the news is full of heartache and the desperate?  They see others robbing every day and being rewarded handsomely for it.  The short end of the stick is just that, short.  And they see others, fat and sassy who learned the tricks of deceit, deception and double cross.     
                   Politicians posture in anticipation of the next election while holding the future of the world economy in the balance.  I don’t know about you, but they don’t represent me.  My proposal is that any elected politician can hold office for one term and cannot run again for at least five years for any other.  Maybe then they won’t be bought and will actually serve the people instead of their own self interests.  I call it my catch and release philosophy.
                At the end of Bill’s song, he promises to catch a fish and he and his buddy could eat it to sustain themselves and its beautiful spirit would become part of them.  With so many broken maps in this world, may cartographers find a peaceful path in this journey called life.

Friday, July 8, 2011

Simple Stuff

I called my aunt today who lives 1,500 miles from here to wish her a happy 84th birthday.  She was so surprised and delighted.  I dabble in verse and recently sent one to a friend that brought a smiling response.  When my neighbors were sick, I mowed their lawn and brought them a home cooked meal.  None of this cost much, but the recipients considered them treasures.  It is so simple to brighten someone’s day.
Even though I have turned into somewhat of a homebody, I want to stay in touch with what’s going on in the world.  But, the news is so depressing.  Why didn’t someone give a little sunshine to the guy who randomly killed seven in Michigan, why is war going on everywhere, why do the politicians toy around when the country is on the verge of bankruptcy and why does our society condone the death penalty?  Is it drugs, is it hate, is it greed, is it power, is it deplorable?
I choose my friends by the size of their heart, not their wallet.  They don’t need to be rich or famous.  They do have to have compassion and display kindness and encouragement and inspiration and once in awhile hit me up side the head and get me back on the right track.  And I do the same for them.  This is an indication of true friendship, actually caring about somebody.  It’s as easy as going broke to discover who your real friends are.  Like a flock of birds heading south for the winter, when your income vanishes, so do all your pretend friends.  The ones who are left are real and I prefer real.
So I am going to keep loving life and others and spreading my human smile virus and hope the attitude is contagious.  Guitars, not guns, should rule the world.  Call me a little weird, life’s a little weird and I am going to continue to reach out to others who are compatible and join up with them in mutual weirdness and change this crazy world.  It’s that simple.

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Time

We buy it, we save it, we spend it, we waste it.  We kill it, get lost in it, we pass it, and make the most of it.  We race against it, we step in it, we run out of it, we like being on it and just in it.  We give it and borrow it and take it.  We have the best of it, the worst, the last next and first.  We have it down  and real and bed and private.  We have Miller, rough and tough, dinner and winter and special.  We have drive and no and idle.  We have limited and news, alone and night.  We have family and spring and quiet and day.  We have right and wrong ones and bad, but hopefully not prison.  We get up for it and go for it and ask for it and share it with space.  We have ins and outs and off, bombs and zones, machines, magazines and pieces and delays.  We have tea and tee and capsules and any, some and every.  We need more, but there’s an end of it.  We have Christmas and anxious and summer and lunch.  It goes too fast, too slow and sometimes it stops.  It aint money if it’s all we got.  I seem to have a lot of it on my hands to write this.

Saturday, July 2, 2011

The Bombs Bursting In Air


It’s a 235th birthday party for a nation with a fascination of blowing things up.  My whole life this country has either been in one or war was imminent.  I hope I am not the only one who finds this reality of the human race repulsive.  We elect what looks like peace loving presidents and as soon as they take the oath they are sucked like doves into the engine of the war machine.  When will it end?
But, it is a birthday of a country celebrating the independence from the evil British Empire.  Those governments long ago kissed and made up.  Yet, we still find reason to celebrate.  Let’s all go buy fireworks from the Chinese and blow stuff up in the neighborhoods.  This is my least favorite tradition of all American holidays.  Just like real bombs, they leave a mess and too often nobody cleans it up.  It scares the animals and I just don’t get the purpose of polluting the air, causing full emergency rooms and starting house fires. 
We are so quick with bombs and so slow with allowing love.  Where is the liberty and justice for those who choose alternative lifestyles?  Where is the love for the infirm, the elderly, the helpless children?  What business do we as a society have to dictate what you can do with your own body?  We would rather spend our money bombing far away lands than having compassion for those in this country.  Is there really any wonder why other people despise us?  When will love become a priority in our society?  When will we discover this is the solution, quit resisting and embrace it?    
 On this Independence Day, we are dependent on foreign oil, the Chinese who have outsmarted us economically and a puppet government run by the big bucks of large corporations.  We are not independent and like fools, we blindly choose to blow stuff up.  Sure, fireworks are pretty.  But, I’ll choose the more peaceful gaze up at the stars in the sky than any sewn on a piece of fabric. 
Bombs away neighbors, I’ll have my garden hose at the ready.