" The best art and comedy are done in desperate times."

Well, once more we return to the old blog, and I think now we have no choice but to go to the place where many things must be talked about, discussed, dissected and rendered.

So, where have I been? A lot of places, and the world has again become a busy one. 

Let's first get this bit of business out of the way, shall we? While many believe something monumental, a master stroke, if you will, shall be thrown down, I believe we are stuck with what we have.

Yes, President Trump.

Taste that, will you?

You know what? Nothing's changed. Not one thing has changed at all. If anything, it has brought into focus the world we live in.

America, here's the choice you made. Get ready for a ride, because it's gonna be one. The ultimate reality show is now ready to take the stage. This is Donald's World, and you and I are mere extras.

What went wrong? Not that I know, but I'll tell you what I think:

1--The liberals ignored the working class, and took for granted that Hillary Clinton would carry them, while they focused on same old, same old.

2--The new liberals who embraced Bernie Sanders, and yes, what an amazing campaign that was. This at the best, has energized a generation...now will they follow through? Remains to be seen.

2a--The Bernie fans who got butthurt by the convention actions? You (and others), who took your vote and went home? YOU FUCKING BLEW IT!

You have an obligation to vote, a civic duty. Those of you who took your vote and went home. Think about that. 

3--You who voted for that self-centered posturer, Gary Johnson? Sorry, kids...Libertarianism by any name is a fantasy, a happy land that does not exist.

"I just want my bread buttered on both sides." -- Graham Parker

I want no rules, no laws, no taxes, no this, no that. I want my weed, my guns, my right to do anything I want anytime, any way. The Constooshun says I can! Let the free market run things, go to the ER if you're sick, just let me drive my SUV at 150 miles per hour down the potholed highway and off the unrepaired bridge to my certain death in a pool of contaminated, flaming water if I want...

Something like that, I guess. I have one close friend whom I call the Intelligent Libertarian, because I believe she realizes you cannot destroy the nation in order to save it.

4--Green Party? Jill Stein? The Greens can't manage a fuck in a brothel. They can barely manage lunch. No grass roots. 

Look, I can tell the Greens how to organize, but give up the big prize and do the work! Figure out a platform. Roll with it. 

Even if six or seven of you in a town are Green, do this: pick one of you. Run for office, get the signatures, get on the ballot, and fucking run!

Even if you lose, you win by getting something started. You will win new votes. You keep working, growing, stick to it.

So now we have Trump, who has given a frustrated, pissed off, angry electorate who feel ignored, a false voice. If you think he speaks for you...well, you been played.

Oh...and for the millions of people who did not vote? YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO BITCH. SHUT YOUR MOUTHS RIGHT NOW. 

Stop posting your shit on Facebook, and elsewhere. Grow up!

If your man won, fine. Gloat. Act like you won a show-up trophy, because that's about all you got.

We are a nation (largely) of spoiled children. We've had it so good for so long, and we want more. 

This video says it all:

So what do we do now?

I tell you what...I'm gonna do my fucking job. I am fortunate. I work in a company that does it right, straight forward, no frills. You get news. You get things that you need to know about.

On the network I work for, when you hear us, you hear news. You hear stories. You don't hear pop culture references, no opinionated whinging, no agenda journalism. You get the real deal.

I challenge you to listen to one hour of "Morning Edition" or "All Things Considered." Shut your mouth. Sit there. Listen.

If you do not come out of that learning something you did not know, then, "I can't do nuthin' for ya, man."

For those of you who continue to whine about narratives, and other buzzwords spoon-fed you by a crazed "toilet-trained media" cabal (thank you, Mark Jackson), know that you have a responsibility to not spread things you know are lies. Ranting and raving about whatever some trained monkey (sorry to the monkeys) said, that's not gonna do it.

The "proudly ignorant" (another person said that, and I do not recall who did), they believe if they yell their dumbness loud enough, it becomes truth.

Let them.

Let the dystopian, multi-tentacled life form rant, rave, howl, beat their chests (and something else)...they do nothing to me.

Let them watch their reality shows, their WWE, their UFC, their TV preachers, hell, even the new Star Wars movie for all I care. Keep amusing yourselves to death. Keep eating yourself to death. Keep being the self-centered, self-adoring, "doesn't affect me crowd."

Be like these people, which George Carlin so brilliantly caricatured:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pR8aFDosQBQ

You need to paste that in...they won't let me embed it. Hmmm...

As they get played like a cheap fiddle, we can still live our lives. We know what we have to do. 

The best art and comedy are done in desperate times.

So anyway...my opinion is thus: we are in a spot, but one we put ourselves in.

We can get out of it, by not quitting. Older folks will tell you..."we've been through worse than this."

How true.

The Depression. My parents remembered that. Being broke, no money, no work to speak of, nothing. The farm barely making it, etc. 

World War II. Think about that. Think of the carnage. Our lost people, the millions lost at the hands of Nazi Germany and Japan...the millions of people in the occupied territories, entire tribes wiped out, the Krimchaks for just one of many, not to mention the Jews.

Think of how that war ended, and what we did. 

Ask anyone still alive who remembers that. We got nothing on them.

And people talk like we need that again...

We think of our upheavals, Vietnam, the Gulf Wars, and what is going on in the Middle East right now.

Ask someone about Vietnam...one man who served told me bluntly, "There's nothing to talk about."

Think about what he brought home. Think about what our people bring home from the recent wars. 

I think about a veteran, half my age, with a service dog I met. This man looked whole physically, but mentally he was gone. Nice person, very quiet and kind...all he said was he'd been in Iraq. Nothing else.

I don't know what he saw, or what he did. But that meeting kills me, every goddamned time I think about it.

Think about what the refugees are running from. Why do you think they want to get to Europe, or to the US?

It's not to blow us all up, apart from a few fanatics, and we've got plenty of them right here to deal with.

Doesn't affect you, right? Wrong.

It does. If affects all of us.

So I have a job to do. I'm going to do it, to the best of my ability. What I say on here is one thing, what I do for my calling, that is a much different thing.

Now, what are you gonna do about "it"? That thing that's been wrought? 

Do what you know is right, not what people tell you is right. Your values supposedly aren't much different than mine...I hope not.

Be honest, be real, and do what you are supposed to do. 

I had a strange experience two nights ago...I was in Washington, on my way to the Verizon Center for a Capitals game. In a hurry.

At a corner, a small, elderly lady turned to me...dressed as I am...she asked would I help her across the street?

Yeah, this happened. 

I said I'd gladly do that. She was a bit unsteady. She explained she only lived a block up, and that she was recovering from a brain tumor.

I have a friend who was recently diagnosed with one. We talked about that, and she explained a little of what she'd gone through.

Next to a CVS, she said I can make it from here, and she thanked me. We talked about the game, and how I do some radio work for the Caps' AHL club, the Hershey Bears.

She knew her hockey. She mentioned Boston...living there. I said I'd lived there ten years.

"Where?"

I told her a lot of places, mostly in Watertown. Then she said, "I'm from New Hampshire, originally."

I said, "I'm from Vermont."

Never got her name, but we connected.

Things like that. Little things.

And yeah, I made it in time for faceoff.

How about that?

So suffer the slings and arrows from others, but be aware we're all one in this little reality show, and we need to do our part. Even if it's off script.

Okay, I got writing to do. I have a life to live, and I shall not destroy more of the planet than I need. I'll also save what I can. 

If this upsets you, sorry, but you'll just have to suffer it. Instead of yelling at me, calling me names, threatening me, how about you think of what you can do to be better. 

#thinkaboutit 

Peace, Out.

Arrogance, and the Obnoxious Fad that Passes for...

...wait for it...

...wait for it...

...you know where I'm going, right...

Religion.

Yep. I'm headed down a track that is sure to offend some of you, and start a whole new debate. I again have found myself in that position of having to defend my spirituality from someone who is not ready to admit that there's any "god" but their own.

I had a long, and interesting talk yesterday with not one, but two people. I will not use their names, because that's not necessary. But I received two points of view, and have reached my own conclusion about myself.

The first is a fellow who remembered me from several years ago. I'd come to write a piece about his workplace. A decent man, and I feel a good one, really I do. Hadn't seen him in a while, and he's back in town.

He wears his mask well.

The conversation turned to religion. I'll make no bones about what I think of Organized Religion. I defend to death your right to be what you will be, and are. But I draw the line when you use that "faith" to attack others.

I am sure he didn't mean it as such, but I was under attack.

When a person listens, but does not hear, and continually turns and twists words back through his own prism of belief, a tenuous one at best, and continues to attack you, what is that?

It is not the "faith" that a follower of Jesus should do, IMHO. Jesus (whom I now believe was not a real person, but a fabrication) did not walk about the world tub-thumping...but as Gandhi said in paraphrasing, "I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. They are so unlike your Christ."

I recall my Congregational upbringing, until I was 12. I remember sermons and a church led by two of the finest, kindest men I knew then, and find hard to match. Reverend Hazen, and the man who later replaced him, Reverend Fuqua. Two men who treated every single person with kindness, respect and decency. 

They did NOT attack with religion, they did NOT try to convert you, they did NOT make you feel inferior and try to make you one of them.

What the fuck happened?

Televangelism, electronic media, and a radical savagery of the faith, and it crosses all boundaries.

The discussion with this fellow reminded me of when I was 15. I was under attack by a teacher, and her fellow born-again haters. A hateful, thinly-veiled cynicism and disgust for all that were not like them.

You may be a Christian, but you are not Christian enough. Ever.

I recall feeling bullied, and attacked, and questioned. I wasn't already good enough as a human being for my own family, let alone this!

I am going to tell you what I am. I am Buddhist. I meditate to Kirtan, and I am a Pagan. Our people were here before Christ's creation as a character, and our people's ways were co-opted, borrowed and stolen.

And they have the nerve to try and wipe us off the map.

They have the nerve to massacre 18 million people in Central America, and wipe out the entire native population of Cuba, in the name of "God" of course.

I do not discount the massacre of a million Armenian Christians in the First World War. I do not discount the massacres during the wars in Bosnia. Nor the 13 million Hitler did to death...not just the Jews, but Cossacks, Krimchaks, Russians of all stripes, and those caught up in the occupied territories. Two million or more murdered during the regime of Pol Pot.

Not to say how many Stalin eliminated. Or Mao Tse-Tung wiped out.

And we see what the "Islamic State" is now doing in the Middle East.

What the fuck happened?

What happened to the Good Samaritan I learned of? What happened to the people who showed respect and kindness to others, regardless of what they looked like or where they came from?

When did faith get caught up in patriotism? 

This much I have learned: we cannot change other's minds. We cannot turn others who cling to views that they are fearful of losing. This fellow clearly had his prism, and all thing must pass through it.

I don't think, again, he meant harm. But he would not listen. To him, I am a terrible person, a lost soul, a creature destined for Hell (which does not exist).

And his own self-flagellation is bizarre. A sinner who will never be forgiven, no matter what. A life of existential suffering, and yet...oh yes, he'll be in the Good Land or whatever it's called.

But to suffer that whole way?

Suffering exists. But we do not have to die for it. We can make things better.

I am who I am. I am not perfect, as I'm human. I have tried, believe me I have tried not to hate. I don't believe in it. Hate is too strong, and hate kills.

I don't know of anyone who hates me. I don't know of anyone who despises me. I'm sure some don't like me, but that's fine. 

I do not profess to know great truths. "Jesus he knows me, and He knows I'm right...been talking to Jesus all my life." Genesis, the band...heehee.

No. 

I call bullshit.

I am Me.

I can trust myself to make the right choices.

I can trust myself to be as mindful as I can.

I take responsibility for this, and all things.

I do not agree with a lot of things, and I don't like a lot of things. I stand against a lot of things, especially the mad cults of Organized Religion. If you go there, it is your business and your decision. I do not say you're bad because of it. I hope it is right for you.

THIS is right for me.

There is One Race. The Human Race. We're it, folks.

Let's stop the hating. Let's stop killing. Let's stop feeling so fucking threatened by every little thing.

I'm gonna do my best. Here's hoping you can too.

We don't need to obsess or talk about IT all the time. To do that leads to the tunnel that you will never escape from.

This is a good world, but we each have to make it good. Stop looking for shit to stir. We can make this thing work, folks.

In my writing, I write what I want to see, not what others tell you you are supposed to see. Does that make sense? I hope so.

NOW...that all said, let me tell you about the second person.

Without going to deeply into it, this individual talked to me in an interview about her life, her career, her family, and what she loves doing. We are artists in our own way, and our own right.

This person, younger than me, showed incredible poise, maturity and sense of place. It has nothing to do with religion, and posing, and hiding behind something.

She was There.

Doing what she loved, and knowing the fulfillment to herself, and to others. Not about money. Not about fame. Not about anything but doing what is right for HER.

In her, I see how the madness can end.

I was reminded of why I write, and why I do the things I do. It is right for me.

Be right for you, and don't let others browbeat you, attack you, piss on you. You cannot change them, and you do not need to change for anyone.

Be YOU.

YOU is what is right for you. Change when you need to, and accept the inevitability that it does happen.

I change when I will, not when others dictate it to me.

I go where I will, not when others tell me to.

"An' it harm none, do what ye will."

My sense of place has been restored. I don't know if any of this makes sense, and I'm sure some of you will be stunned by this. 

I hate no one. I have malice toward none. I don't blindly love everyone, but I really hope that as we go on, we can be what we will be, but try and respect the differences.

And the similarities. 

We are all one...we're all we've got, folks.

Peace, Out.

Japan, the Tsunami, Suffering and the Need to Stop Hating

I'm finishing off my TrafficTalk shift for this Friday, and I have spent a great deal of time when not handling calls, looking at the devastation in Japan.  

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12709850

Take a good look at this footage.  Watch how that wall of water just sweeps inland; you can tell how fast it's going by comparing it to those vehicles on the roads.


In the lower left at the 2:35 mark, someone is turning a white vehicle around in an effort to escape.  You can see for sure, but I don't think they made it.


People were alive in that video, then seconds later, who knows?


Now people who know me know that a number of my books are set in Japan.  I've never been there, but I have an interest and fascination with that country, its people, its culture, and so forth.  I must go there to do research and live in that country, to make sure I'm getting my details right.


That seems not to be a priority now; I have this wish to want to go there and help, if not report on what I would view.  Unlikely that my skills would be useful as of now.  Emergency personnel are what's needed, and fortunately the nations of the civilized world are stepping up.


Speaking of which:  I was looking about on the varied news sites, the BBC, Asahi Times and Japan Times Online.  I also looked on Yahoo!, at the risk of knowing that the Internet Trolls would be out in force to post hateful, ignorant garbage as "commentary."


Well, much to my surprise--the comments are gone from Yahoo! News.  Apparently they again realized (not for the first time) that the comments section of any story has been hijacked by perverts, political nuts, religious fanatics, spammers and other morons who do not wish to debate, but to end debate.


The hate is real, and very sad.  It's hard for us to not get caught up in it.  Hate is based in fear, I think we can all agree; that said, we engage in hatred, without realizing it quite often.


On Facebook for example, I've grown tired of reading posts from people who I do consider my friends, making some pretty rank comments about politics, religion, the entertainment world, anything really...and also about other people.  It's the kinds of things you'd never say to another's face...but you hide behind your keyboards and say whatever you like.


I have friends on there who love to jump right into an argument, firing off missives, that tend to be rhetoric.  Some just love a good fight, and love to keep it going.  They get off on it.


Well, it's all hatred of one sort or another.  Perhaps we don't wish to hate others, or wish bad things on others, but a lot of us do.  I find it disconcerting.


The disaster makes me re-examine my own values.  I'm outspoken, I admit it; it's gotten me in trouble before, and it's cost me at least one or two jobs in my lifetime.  I admit to saying stupid things, things I wished I hadn't; I also said and did things I've agonized over, and hoped to learn why, and hope to never repeat them again.


Looking at the suffering in Japan, and elsewhere, let's think about the next time we want to open up on somebody, no matter the reason.  I don't know if this makes sense, but I'm saddened by what I see going on a half a world away, and wish I could do more than donate $$ to an aid fund.


We should respect our differences, everyone of us, and see each other as people, and human beings.  Let's try to be cool for once, and see what we can do to help out, without bitching about our comfy little lives, and blaming others for the problems we think we have.


Much of Northeastern Japan has an awful lot more going on than all but a few of us could say we could handle right now.  I hope that made sense; it's very hard to follow what they're doing right now to find those in need and help them.


In this country, we can do better than we have, as human beings.  Let us begin now.

Gas...of Varied Kinds

Been a very weird last couple of days here.  Yesterday, I was gassed...out of energy, still recovering from the Weekend from Hell.  I did accomplish one or two things.


Had a long talk with the Chess Guy.  He's a heretofore unnamed regular at the Office; I've seen him on and off, playing chess and teaching it to different folks, mostly kids.


Turns out his name is Russell and he's a former member of a band called Secret Weapon.  A funk band in the 80's, had one hit.


He's a multi-instrumentalist, and Russell struck up a convo with me about my MacBook Pro, then we veered off into music (he correctly guessed I am a musician of sorts), and I heard a bit of a demo of his, and his working on a book about chess and spirituality, and about his working with a guy in York who has a recording studio...


...lots of talking as you can imagine.


So he's gonna talk to his friend/partner, and perhaps I might just have some work in the city at the studio.  Don't know if I can help them or if this is something I wish to do, but I will find out.


TrafficTalk.info -- Oh dear.


Looks like we MIGHT be a go tomorrow.  If not, next week.


AT&T is the problem here; callers are not able to call in for some reason, via that carrier.  Strange.


Okay...drove with Kaitryth down to MD; a Wegman's run, a stopoff at Caribou Coffee (my Maryland Office), and errands.


More snow...3-5 inches here, allegedly, but the coast and New England is gonna get it again.  Fun.


Dusting here right now, not much more.  Almost looks like it's changing over to rain.  I'd rather have that to be honest.


I am starting to consider the social networking thing again.  I need it for work, for my art, etc.  But I have to consider what I don't need, and I must be mindful of staying away from what else goes down.


In the wake of the Arizona shooting, the righties, the conservatives, and the anti-Obama crowd have been rallying to defend Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, Rush and the others.


The typical whine of the right is:  "BUT THE LIBERALS DO IT TOO!"


No, they don't.  The left, Democrats, progressives, whatever you want to call them do not call for "SECOND AMENDMENT..." solutions like Sharon Angle did.  They don't "LOCK AND LOAD" like Palin demanded, and also didn't put crosshairs on the pictures of Democratic Congresspeople.  One of them was Congresswoman Giffords.


I'm sure Jared Loughner's psycho mug shot will be splashed across the cover of Newsweek (to me, the nation's worst newsmagazine), and the others, too.  


Meet Jared Loughner:  the New American Hero.  The New American Martyr for Your Rightwing, Personal Paranoia.


As a member of the media, I know what those idiots in the corporate world did in the past, and we'll just do it all again.


We made a hero out of David Koresh, a child molester and sexual pervert who ran a religious cult of personality, and was involved in gunrunning.  His destruction of the Waco compound was done on his orders, not the government's.  His rants and raves were aired all across the media, and the paranoid androids of the right had a new hero.


One of them:  Timothy McVeigh.  Remember him?


The Gulf War I Veteran who blew up the federal building in Oklahoma City.  Suddenly, here's yet another one, another hero for the freaks.  And a martyr, now that he's dead.


Jared Loughner stands to be the next one.  Such fun, our media world.  The gasbagging of what his political and religious views were are fodder for both sides, and one side in particular is distancing itself as quickly as it can.


This nation is in the shitter, when it comes to humanity, and we can thank the right for that.  


I know, the conservatives out there are gonna attack, me using the same old bromides, emotionalist rants, and excuses.  They are really good at excuses, or sniffing their noses at proof.


Far as I'm concerned:  go ahead.  Rant, rave, scream, twist your guts inside yourselves and enjoy the ulcers you cause yourself.  Keep on making threats, go right ahead, because I know it makes you feel so manly, so righteous, and so AMERICAN.


Just remember:  you wanna man up, and make threats, and act like a jackwagon in public?  You threaten me?  You will have a date with the local police.  Wanna act like a man?  Then the police will treat you like a man; one that will have a lot of explaining to do.


I hope that as I've gotten older, that I have matured a little bit.  The way I used to speak is not that same as it once was.  I don't want anyone to be hurt for their political or social views, no matter what they are.


Everyone has a right to how they feel and think; can we not agree to disagree without name-calling, threats, and acting like a bunch of grade-schoolers in the yard during recess?  Sorry to the grade-schoolers who don't act that way.


Breathe, folks; every one of us has gotta breathe, step back, and think.  Don't drink the kool-aid; don't smoke the joint of self-righteousness.  Hang in there.  We'll come out of it better people, I hope.