Head Thumpin Monks Revisited

I originally wrote this post in November of 2009, a year after Obama won his first term.The Tea Party had been rattling their odeological cages, gas lighting, lying, and finding conspiracies where there were none.

The big claim - Obama was not born in the USA. It was a very popular Bull Shit story. The folks who pushed this were called "Birthers". And who lead their Charge?........ That's right the moron who has been screwing us over the last 10 years at the least.

When I re-read this post I was not surprised how much hasn't changed. I was surprised at just how successful the MAGA movement has been at ruining our country. Anyway, here is what I was thinking on Nov. 21, 2009. Things have not only not changed, things have gotten worse.

<~>

I began a serious rant aimed squarely at the recent Right Wing hijinks and foolishness. Yes it was a scathing attack. No holds barred. Take no prisoners. No quarter given. Worked myself into a frenzy, almost becoming that which I was raging against.

I was hitting all the convenient targets of opportunity - Sarah, Glenn, the holier than thou but hopelessly brain dead Michele Bachmann, Fox Spews, and just to make sure or round out my efforts, a few below the belt shots at Hannity and O'Reilly just for the Hell of it.

Teabaggers were up front taking pies in the face. Bible thumping homophobes were getting drippy chins as I squatted and scathingly dipped my sack of condemnation and insults on their ever eager blank angry faces.

 could only hold back so long when faced with this non stop parade of hateful fools leading with their chins. And I felt no shame at hurling insults and epithets and other scurrilous mutterings in their general direction. They deserved my derision, my disrespect. It was time I gave back what I have been taking for 29 years. They want to hate me. Fine. It was time I hated back.

Because I had had it. I could only be even tempered for so long and shine on the hate and disrespect all of them seem to have for my personal ideals while I tried to respect theirs. I was tired of being accused of being a traitorous loser who hates America and wants Islamic assholes and Commies to take over because I happen to like the man who occupies the Oval Office. I was tired of the hateful mean shit these jerks have been spewing from mouths filled with tobacco juice and holy water. I was tired of hearing how important guns are to my freedom. Get a damn clue you idiots. I do not need a gun to be free. Freedom is not had at the end of a gun. Freedom is not taken away at the end of a gun. The only way you can lose your freedom is when you give it away. Freedom is a frame of mind and you boneheads have no clue what that means.

But you know what? After furiously pounding out my anger and dripping gallons of mean sweat on the keys of this keyboard, I felt better. So I decided I wouldn't say those things. I had purged my hate and was now once again going with the flow. Just chillin while a contented smile came over my face. 

Instead of laying into the dim wits of the Right, I offer instead, this short but to the point Monty Python clip. In 30 seconds or so you will know how I view the fools who wrap themselves in scripture, conspiracy theories and would turn us into a repressive theocracy and think they are doing us a favor.

Enjoy.

_________________________

WFS

It is the day before our next Presidential Election. The two candidates have been using up all the oxygen in whatever room, hall, or arena they were able to cram loving supporters into. It is rumored by both sides, that the other side is not only hiring buses to haul the faithful to venues, the campaigns are paying those supporters to show up. One rich asshole, who tries to blame Autism for his lack of connection to real people, but is just another ex - pampered silver-spooned baby like his spoiled brat candidate buddy, the Orange Haired Village Idiot; is actually dangling real money in front of the Red Capped Dumb Ass Brigade to entice any undecided  brain dead citizens into their fold.

Am I fed up, disgusted, shocked, disappointed?

 Hell, there are not enough adjectives to describe how fucking unhappy I am about American Politics at the moment. Am I nervous, anxious, on edge, and suffering from TDS? You are damn right I am. No apologies. The Orange Shit-gibbon has infused the nation's soul with nothing but animosity, deceptions, and warnings we should believe that this time he'll fuck us good, not just diddle us a little like he did when he really did not have a clue. 

I like how the drooling minions on the Right love their little jokes. They came up with TDS (Trump Derangement Syndrome ) to go with all the other juvenile sayings, comparisons, etc they had collected because that's all they had. No coherent reasons for their cultish boot licking adoration of the biggest village idiot the World has ever known.

But I have to give the red capped bootlickers their due. Many of us have TDS. There is no better description of the anxiety, hate, and disappointment of so many citizens regarding the serious lack of intelligence and WFS a large charge of our population suffers from. Frankly, I cannot understand why all citizens of voting age don't have TDS. 

Most of MAGA Theresa's followers are just stupid. They have no interest in critical thinking. Many have been programed through the dishonest preaching of the Christian Gospel. Programmed to cede their minds to someone behind a pulpit. They don't get a pass, but they do make up a sizable portion, if not a majority of Adolf Twitler's rank n file. 

The Wingers who do know better suffer from a condition I have named WFS. That is, they are being "Willfully Fuckin Stupid", or as it used in politer circles, "Premeditated Ignorance", an offshoot of "Willful Ignorance". Bottom line; anyone who supports Trump, supports a proven traitor. That should be enough to cancel his sorry ass tomorrow and toss his sorry worthless self on the trash heap.

We will find out tomorrow. 

Does Willful Ignorance win? Or does a more stable and calmer administration continue the wonderful economic recovery and fight to restore rights  created by the Biden Administration. Or do we allow one deranged and incoherent douchebag to take control again and do his best to take take us down one of the many roads to Hell like he has promised.

_________________________________

I thought of the song and the image I wanted before I wrote a word of this post. The image supported the song I felt covers wonderfully, some of the times we are dealing with today. It was written by Paul Simon over 60 years ago and recorded on Simon & Garfunkel's first album as an acoustic track and then again remixed on their second album , "The Sounds of Silence". It is an all time iconic song that many, many artists have covered over the last 60 years. No one has created a better cover than "Disturbed".

Enjoy........... I recommend a volume level of... as LOUD as you can stand it! .............. Or not. It works just fine at lower volume also.

Eating Cats & Dogs

“If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that’s what I’m going to do.”

       JD Vance ~ Sept 15, 2024

Nine plus years of Trump and his drooling minions polluting the political discourse has made what were once unforgiveable actions by politicians nothing but mainstream, everyday stupidity that America has now learned to ignore. 

The question I ask now is how did and why did we allow this kind of sleazy bullshit poison our politics? I was outraged when I saw the Right fall in line with the lies, accusations and hate that Trump pandered as the new "Alternative Facts" starting in 2015. And now we do not even blink an eye when he comes up with and then doubles and triples down on a lie that is racist and blatantly false. Targeting immigrants who are here legally and are also black is never okay, yet Trump and his butt sucking sidekick, JD Vance have no problem spewing their vile lies about them on a daily basis.

JD Vance's justification for creating lies to somehow bolster his campaign to enlighten America to his twisted vision of where we are only reinforces the lack of substance his and Trumps claims have. If they admit to making up lies to support their previous lies, what are we to think about their over all attitude about Americans. They are playing us for chumps and sadly, a large number of us are drinking their swill, and even helping to push their hate and discontent. Many, if not most know their plans are based not on helping the country but helping the few assholes who own them. They just do not care.

It is so easy to place all the blame on Trump. But the gutless enablers of the Right are really to blame. They allowed this slimy asshole to take over their party; this monster they now cannot control. They have allowed Trump to ruin the GOP by turning the party into an anti-democratic group bent on establishing an Authoritarian State in place of the Representative Democracy we currently enjoy.

If Trump wins this November, as Jackie Sue so frequently says, "We're Fucked!

Meanwhile, do your best to keep it 'tween the ditches ..........................

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

I found a list of Anti - Trump Blues tunes. It was hard to pick a favorite. After checking them all, I decided on the Rick Estrin & the Night Cats tune, "Dump That Trump".  

Enjoy!

He, Who Shall Remain Un-named

I have recently been trying to refrain from posting anything specifically about politics. I can feel I am probably close to my breaking point. As evidence, I am now mentioning that I am trying to not write about the political circus unfolding outside the confines of my little acre of Sanity here in southern Maine. I will do my best with this post to at least, not mention by name, the one politician who has me and many, many millions of other Americans totally fed up with his lies, his criminality, his misogyny, his word salads, and are really tired of his ugly mug on TV every time we turn the damn things on. 

One can only watch so many "Leave it to Beaver", "Perry Mason", and "Have gun, Will Travel" re-runs. At some point I have to come up for air and there he is, still right in my face with his drooling knuckle dragging Cultists hanging on every idiotic word that spews from his pie hole.

 

Over the past 9 years when he first slithered and slimed his way into the politics of mainstream America, my first reaction was laughter. What a clown, I thought, what a buffoon. No way America would be be stupid enough to allow this guy anywhere near 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, DC.

My laughter died when I realized that yes, there were enough gullible idiots in this country who had no problem with him and his sleazy con man chicanery that he was able to sneak in and squat behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office for the next 4 years. Okay, I thought, this was an aberration. Surely America would wise up for the next election and vote him out. 

I was right. We did vote the flim flaming asshole out. But  he didn't go quietly. Instead, he fired up his traitorous citizen army and they tried to overthrow the election and the country. Unapologetic, this self serving traitor doubled down and continued to punish America for the next 4 years with his stupidity, hate and discontent. We watched as he tried to steer our ship towards the rocks and tear us down in order to remake this country into the totalitarian paradise he has had wet dreams about for so many years. He failed but not before he caused real damage to our way of of life and our national soul. 

Hmm..........................

I sit here close to my boiling point again and wonder if his presence in my life is punishment for some misdeed or slight I may have had a part in far back in my checkered past. Did I insult Karma at some point? Or is it that America did?

All I can figure now is we deserve this man in our lives. We allowed him to poison our culture, bad mouth our cherished institutions, people and tenets that comprise the core of our national soul.

And now, 9 years after he first polluted the political landscape, he is still here spewing his inciteful gibberish and keeping the cups of of hate and discontent overflowing. We have a chance to put him down and I hope we do. But sadly the slime and shit stains he will leave behind will be with us for a long time. 

Good Job America. Way to go. Look what we have done to ourselves.

Later gators ..................................... 

<><><><><><><><><><><><><>

My choice for a tune comes from Tracy Chapman with her song "America". I am including the lyrics. I feel  they fit quite well with this post.

Kumbaya ...... Yeah Right.

I was recently dressed down in a PM regarding my less than supportive words about Democrats. I won't mention any names, but they had a point. I am increasingly frustrated and angry by the Hillary mentality that seems to again be grabbing many Democrats by their short hairs. Many seem to think winning the White House this next November is a slam dunk: just as they did in 2016.

In the meantime, the chronic hand wringers in the Democratic party are afraid if we act with the same anger Republicans use to keep their base fired up, we have somehow become that which we hate. 

Maybe they are right. Maybe the Left is becoming as harsh and hard as the Right. Maybe that is exactly what the Left should do. When in a street fight, Kumbaya mentality doesn't cut it. The "can't we just get along" Democrats don't get it. The Right has no interest in "getting along". They are intent on burying liberalism and thus Democracy deep in some swamp somewhere.

It would seem many Liberals think the means is still more important the the ends. I would tend to agree , or at least I used to. The Right long ago adopted a "any means" approach to winning. The Left does not have to adopt the same policy, but they should stand up more and call out the Right for their evil, sleazy ways. 

The Left needs to lose the PC mentality when dealing with the Right. If a Winger is lying, call them liars. If a Winger is a hypocrite, call them a hypocrite. Pound these jerks hard with language average people understand. No more using terms like "misinformation". No more using terms like "our esteemed colleagues on the Right". If we think they are being assholes, call them assholes. Americans understand and respect bald faced anger better than the pussy footing anger that is so popular with the politer Left. The time for gratuitous civility is over. The Left needs to give as good as it gets.

The Right wants to destroy liberalism in this country. That is currently their stated goal. We should believe them. What we should NOT be doing, is constantly holding out our hands trying to win them over. The Right has decided that this is the time to finally put liberalism on the dust heap of history and beckon in a new era of world wide autocracies that serve the few over the many.

That does not mean everyone on the Left needs to be an asshole. What it means is we need attack dogs; people who have big mouths and can talk to the GOP base in the simple words they can sometimes understand. Talking above them is seen as an insult. We need pols who get in their face. That seems to be what they admire the most.

Bipartisanship should not be lost; only tabled until the liberal movement re-establishes itself  as a worthy foil to the worst tendencies the Right is currently championing. The way back for the Left is doing a better job than the Right and making sure America knows about it. The "speak softly'" garbage the mainstream Left favors is not working. 

In Politics, nice guys more often than not lose the high ground while fooling themselves winning is not as important as how the fight is managed. The Left needs to consolidate and push as hard on the Right as the Right is pushing the Left. The time for Kumbaya moments should be put on pause until such time the Right has become sufficiently humbled enough so they return to the playground and play nice again.  

America is a country full of angry, unhappy people. Everyone, Right and Left, are primed and ready to blow. Allowing the Right to drive the messages is a recipe for disaster. The Democrats need to stop their petty infighting and offer a united front at least for the foreseeable future until the Right is soundly defeated or if by some miracle, they rein in their current idiocy of their own accord.

Whew!

I could feel the pressure. My ability to hold my tongue on anything political has a very short rope. But I feel better now. 

Keep it 'tween the ditches .......................................

_____________________

Nine Inch Nails recorded this tune in 1989. It is certainly more pertinent today that it was then. Or maybe it is still as pertinent as it was then. Anyway, here is "Head like a Hole". 

Proudest Monkey

According to Billy, an old Internet bud, we are all just monkeys. ..... Just a bunch of monkeys throwing shit at each other and spankin our monkeys in the tree tops. ...Hmm. .. Well maybe Billy never said it that way, but I sure as Hell think that is what he thinks of the Human Race. 

Its not like he doesn't have any proof.

Every day humans prove to anyone paying attention, that we have beaten odds we had no right to. We fool ourselves that we did this... not just survived, but look at us now, we can talk on phones we put in our pockets. 

We waste our days patting ourselves on the back and skirting any blame for the terrible prices paid to put us here. The planet is certainly not better off because of our presence. The animals on the planet are definitely not better off. And the plants, shit, the plants that sustain our air, the quality of our water, and put nutrients into our bodies are either long gone or heading in that direction.

Oh sure, we pretend to care, to give a shit. But let's face it: We're too busy playing in trees and spankin our monkeys.

So there it is, my day or two late, and dollar short Earth Day comment.

Later .............................................

___________________

There is only one song that will do. Here is "Proudest Monkey", by Dave Mathews.

The Fertile Crescent

Not long ago I posted my absolute disgust with Israel and Hamas in Gaza over their inability to live with each other. The blame I think falls directly at the feet of of Israeli PM Netanyahu and his hard line Conservative policies and also at the feet of the Iranian proxy fighters, the terrorists of Hamas. I pointed out the obvious that the real victims were the innocent civilians of both sides. 

All of this was apparent right at the outset on October 7th when Hamas terrorists invaded Israel, killing around 1200 innocent people and taking many hostages, many of whom were tortured and raped. What followed was the over the top military response by Israel.

Now, the shock of that attack from Gazan terrorists has been replaced with the dread of another regional conflict that might last for years. It will gather more momentum and possibly drag other countries into the fighting. ........ All because the leaders of both sides are stupidly stubborn and willing to kill innocent people to make their points. 

Contrary to the advice of the USA and other countries who have been in this same position because of knee jerk military responses in their past, Israel seems determined to make similar mistakes. The IDF's overwhelming firepower that has resulted in over 15,000 Palestinian deaths in less than two months proves they have no more regard for human life than Hamas does.

I was told by someone I respect that I had an overly simplistic view of the many conflicts in the Mid -East.  They claimed I was not considering all the blatant reasons that were intertwined with age old regional complaints and policies. Quick and simple solutions were not feasible they said.

Fuck that.

This kind of stupidity is simple. The endless blabbering of reasons, of shifting blame, are what make conflicts like this complicated and make them last far longer than they should. The simple solution is and always has been right in front of the combatants.  ..... Stop fighting and talk to each other. 

....... Don't hold your breath.

I have sat on this post and been avoiding any comment on the recent horror show that is unfolding in Gaza. No matter what I say, I will be the asshole as I feel the two of them deserve each other. But I cannot just sit back and watch the assholes on either side of this madness continue their murderous bullshit without calling both of them out. It took two brutal leaderships to create this absolute Hell on Earth. Neither side can claim the moral high ground, no matter what weak excuse either comes up with.

I have nothing but the deepest contempt for the current Right Wing Authoritarian leaning Israeli government under the thumb of Benjamin Netanyahu and total, unequivocal hatred for Hamas as they act as proxies for others intent on Israel's destruction. This conflict is a no win situation that once again puts innocent people in the cross hairs of both sides.

The real goals for either side in this war are political in nature. Throughout history though, Humanity learned early on that to ease their conscience's for acting horrifically against others and to secure support for their heinous actions, they had to come up with excuses that they could hide behind. Religion and defending it from infidels and heathens became perfect go to excuses upon which battles and invasions were planned. It is an old and honored tradition in warfare to blame the other side's lack of faith in the real god and by god, we will make you pray to our god so we can save what's left of you when we are done raping and pillaging. 

No other area of the world is a better example of this than the Fertile Crescent. Thousands of armies have swept back and forth through the Mid-East over the last 10,000 years at least. Most of the conflicts, if not all, had religion at their core. This conflict is no different. Both are playing the religion card when it suits them. Differences in religion should never have been used to justify blowing up the neighborhood unless that religion was founded, at least in part, to support acting like assholes to others.

And people wonder why I hate organized religion of any kind.

Later ................................................

______________________________

It was a struggle to find a tune that fit my mood after writing this post. I walked away from the computer, did some menial chores, brewed another pot of coffee, and sparked up a doob. When I came back and sat down to find a tune that fit my mood, I quickly zeroed in on Alicia Keys', "Holy War" .

The lyrics:

If war is holy and sex is obscene
We've got it twisted in this lucid dream
Baptized in boundaries, schooled in sin
Divided by difference, sexuality and skin

Oh, so we can hate each other and fear each other
We can build these walls between each other
Baby, blow by blow and brick by brick
Keep yourself locked in, yourself locked in
Yeah, we can hate each other and fear each other
We can build these walls between each other
Baby, blow by blow and brick by brick
Keep yourself locked in, yourself locked

Oh, maybe we should love somebody
Oh, maybe we could care a little more
So maybe we should love somebody
Instead of polishing the bombs of holy war

What if sex was holy and war was obscene
And it wasn't twisted, what a wonderful dream
Living for love, unafraid of the end
Forgiveness is the only real revenge

Oh, so we can heal each other and fill each other
We can break these walls between each other
Baby, blow by blow and brick by brick
Keep yourself open, yourself open
Yeah, we can heal each other and fill each other
We can break these walls between each other
Baby, blow by blow and brick by brick
Keep yourself open, you're open

So maybe we should love somebody
Maybe we could care a little more
So maybe we should love somebody
Instead of polishing the bombs of holy war

What if love is holy and hate obscene
We should give life to this beautiful dream
'Cause peace and love ain't so far
If we nurse our wounds before they scar
Nurse our wounds before they scar

Useless People

If any recent action by the GOP proves they have no plan for the country other than Anti-Woke performative politics, their recent righteous indignation over changing the senate's dress code proves it. They are not interested in the flagrant illegalities of Trump or any other issue that truly affects this country. No ........... They are up in arms over Sen. Schumer changing the Senate dress code.

Our own useless Senator from Maine, Susan Collins, who has been keeping her head down in recent months, perked up and said yesterday (Monday):

"I plan to wear a bikini tomorrow to the Senate floor and [Sen.] Chris Coons [D-DE] is gonna wear shorts because there's no dress code anymore,"

Asked why the change bothered her, Collins fell back into her GOP lackey role and replied: 

"Because I think there is a certain dignity that we should be maintaining in the Senate, and to do away with the dress code, to me, debases the institution."

Who is she kidding? Changing the dress code debases the Senate? 

Sorry sweetheart, the debasement, as you put it, happened  the moment you Republican clowns embraced Donald Trump as your hero. The Right has done nothing but debase everything good about America ever since. They are slime and I hope to live long enough to see their party go belly up and die as a political force in this country.

Go fuck yourself Susan.

Okay, I feel better. Nobody besides Trump gets me wound up as much as Susan Collins does. She is a sad excuse for a leader. It's no surprise she is a Republican.

Later ................................................

________________________

"Only a Fool Would Say That", by Steely Dan, is a song that targets John Lennon. Reportedly, Donald Fagan was not impressed with John Lennon's  1971 album, "Imagine". As it turns out, neither was I. My disdain was ignored, but Fagan wrote "Only a Fool...." about his disdain. As usual with any Steely Dan tune, it is top notch music and better now than when it came out back in the day.

Sadly, just the Same Shit, Different Day

I guess there was another mass shooting yesterday down in Jacksonville, Florida.

 ........ SSDD. 

I would have missed it until tomorrow except I watched the head cop from Jacksonville give his blow by blow version of the tragedy that unfolded. The whole incident only took 11 minutes he said. In that 11 minutes, 4 people lost their lives to gun violence. Throw in the racial motive to the mix and what we have is just another garden variety - white people acting badly against those folks they harbor some kind of clueless and senseless hatred for.

I would not even be posting about it except I was struck by something Sheriff T.K. Waters said while defending the Gun Rights side of the out of control gun stupidity we have going on right now. Don't get me wrong, I think folks should be allowed to own guns, if only because there are so many guns already loose in the hands of our citizens , any law that might be passed restricting them would not work and just anger the crotch tugging NRA boneheads even more.

The sheriff was asked if there had been any red flags raised by this 20 something racist before the shootings. He said the kid had no record and no indications of mental illness. The guns used had been purchased legally. He went on to defend the gun lobbies by saying basically it wasn't the guns that killed those folks, rather it was the madman behind the gun. I am so tired or hearing this kind of mealy mouthed response to the other mealy mouthed accusations from the anti gun crowd. Neither side seems able to even consider some kind of compromise to make our streets a tad safer. All or nothing for both of them.

Sheriiff Waters was then asked another of the stupid questions the media always asks in the immediate aftermath of an incident like this. 

"Was there anything that could have been done to have kept this from happening?' 

A look of exasperation came over his face. Then he said, "We did everything we could,' quickly following up with, "We do everything we can".

I call bullshit. The sheriff is wrong. The powers that be are not doing what they can to create safer spaces for us to live in. Law enforcement is a reactionary force, not a preemptive force. Any preemptive measures have to be created in the legislatures, state and national. Cops clean up messes, they don't stop them from happening. Only education, public support and common sense shown by both sides will slow down the madness.

The Gun totin assholes who consider owning guns as the true sign of freedom have not done shit to get some control of a situation that has been totally out of control since the day buying assault rifles were once again allowed to be owned by idiots whose only knowledge of guns came from TV and Internet Games. So spare me the crap about its not the gun, its the person shooting the gun. Stop claiming that if we pass laws the problem will fix itself. Both sides of this issue have their respective heads up their respective asses.

Later ...........................

____________________________

"Another One Bites the Dust", by Queen seems appropriate. But then so does The Avett Brothers and their more up to date, "Bang, Bang" really nails my current feelings about the stupidity surrounding guns.

Don't Send in Any More Clowns

The Political clown shows of the two parties used to be somewhat interchangeable. Each party depended on similar types of moronic and hypocritical behavior. That all changed when the nation elected a black man President of the United States of America in 2008. 

Most of America saw this as a positive thing, a move in the right direction. Unfortunately, it fired up the die hard Right Wing Racists and re-kindled their White Nationalism which apparently had been lying dormant these past many years. Racist White men and women popped out of the woodwork; certainly more than anyone thought were out there. They are emboldened by the recent atmosphere of hate and are defending themselves against perceived attacks on their entitlement of racial and cultural superiority. Seeing a black man and his family in the White House was all of a sudden, patriotic and religious blasphemy.

This simmering cauldron of White Wing hate and discontent in the GOP finally bubbled over when, in 2015-16, a Great White Bwana with golden locks assured his lowlife racist Bible thumping sycophants on the Right that he was here to save their day for them and nobody else.

This is where the clowns of the Left and the clowns of the Right parted ways.

Today, 15 years after that black man was elected the first time, the head clowns of the Right and the GOP have completely dumped any hint they want to actually govern. Now their goal is to obstruct, retract, and limit many of the rights we have come to take for granted. 

The leadership of the Right doesn't even pretend anymore to being responsible stewards of our trust. These new age spineless guardians of Scum and Sleaze now play to the interests of the extremists from the white populations. These Righteously Indignant Nincompoops would rather legislate what we read, how we have children, who can wear skirts, who can't, who can vote and who cannot. Dealing with budgets, taxes, healthcare, infrastructure, defense and the rest of the nuts and bolts of government that smooth our way forward have only token attention paid to them. 

Republican leadership has embraced immoral and unethical behavior to attain their culturally regressive policies and goals; more so than any of the sleaze currently found on the Left. And in the meantime, they do everything they can to hinder the Democrats' efforts to actually do the grunt work of governing.

Yeah,  the White Wing Clown Show is a bastion alright. Just not the honest, upstanding moral bastion their talking heads would have us believe they are. They are scum and they know it. What's worse is, they do not care.

I used to hope the GOP would get their shit together, but I gave up the day the traitor Ronald Reagan was elected. Now I hope to live long enough to piss on their grave.

I feel better now. I guess I took too long a break from venting my political frustrations.

Keep it 'tween the ditches ..............................

____________________________

Rifled through more than a few songs about clowns, with clown in the titles, or a clown singing. I finally settled on "St. James Infirmary Blues", sung by Koko the Clown.

Culling the Herd

Recently, I have been dickin around with trying to finish or at least move forward several stories I have had on my "to write" list. They all have promise I think, but I haven't been able to make much progress on any of them lately.

I awoke this morning determined to work on one story. I brewed some coffee, poured a cup, and came back here to what I call my "office". It is really just another hoarding hot spot where I keep just enough junk out of the way to use the computer and listen to music.

Sadly, my morbid infatuation with bad news followed me in. The TV had been on while I brewed my coffee and of course the channel was set on a news channel. Morning TV in our house is almost always tuned to the news. The bad news of this day was another mass shooting at a mall in Texas, Trump's ongoing legal troubles, blah, blah .......blah.

On the tube, a state senator who lives near Uvalde, Texas was interviewed. In the last year since the Uvalde mass shooting, he had proposed at least four new laws to pump some common sense back into the bi-partisan nonsense that is Gun Policy in this country. He was asked about one of his legislatin' shoot from the hip com-padres who invoked God's Will to support his take on pro gun views. The State Senator replied, "He should be removed from office." 

Various gun control odds and ends filled out the news piece, but the point was made that all good and God fearing Texans were for guns without restrictions. Texas continues to keep its pedal to the metal supporting no gun control at all, while at the same time, pushing hard to force every woman within the state's borders to birth children no matter the cost.

I could feel my BP going up. I knew I should just walk away from this latest morbid infatuation, but I couldn't. I began to rant out loud to nobody particular and I created a fictional scenario. In my best, which ain't very good, Texas accent, it panned out something like this:

"Yes Sireee Bob, ... Buckaroos, the great state of Texas is gonna continue to support all ya'll's God given rights to own a gun, shoot a gun and go anywhere with a gun, especially to Church, ... Praise the Lord! "

"Now I know some of ya'll are a tad miffed that some misguided folks are abusin' our sanctified and legally protected gun rights by occasionally raising their 30 shot automatic Deer rifles against their feller citizens. We here at the Austin Statehouse, well sir, we got a plan to fix that."

I paused here as I had not yet thought up the plan my imaginary Texas legislator already had in his pocket. I sipped on some more coffee, sparked a doob and sucked on it  until it came to me. I stood back up, faced the TV and continued:

"Now, you have to believe me when I tell you we legislators take gun safety and the safety of our citizens who carry guns seriously. On the subject of Guns and the unborn, we ain't all hat and no cattle."

"We sat up late with some chaw, a few long necks of Lone Star, and came up with a bunch of plans. Some were, right out of the gate, tossed because well, we knew those whiny Libruls in our state would raise more Hell than it would be worth fighting. Arguing with a Librul is like hollerin' down a well."

"We finally settled on two proposals that had serious support."

"The first proposal came from the good legislator from East Texas, Billy Sol Estis Jr. He said, ......well what he said wern't quite polite; but essentially in a Texas nutshell, he said we ought to have regular sanctioned hunts. Everyone's so fired up about over populatin' the planet, well, free range, no holds barred, sanctioned hunts could help to bring the out of control populations under control and at the same time, fill every Texan's need to shoot something." 

"Just like the deer we cull to keep the herds healthy for the next hunting season, trimmin' down segments of the over populatin' losers in the state would make life so much better for the rest of us. He went on to say a series of well thought out controlled hunts would cut back on those certain segments of the population's need of needing abortions and sucking off the public teat, meaning we would most likely piss away even less money on Welfare than we do now. Win, win. He was sure of it ."

"Well folks, his plan created some serious discussion. In the end it was not to be. Some bleedin' heart Librul lawmakers from down Brownsville and Houston ways pissed and moaned about how it might be a smidgen racist. So we came up with a compromise, kinda."

 "Our plan is a low cost solution that addresses head on, the overblown issue of gun safety. Folks, it will allow our gun totin population some safe outlets for when they feel threatened, sad, or in need of just shootin' something, anything. You know, ........ we've all been there."

"The Great State of Texas will put out bids to all the in-state sign makers to come up with replaceable, cost effective targets, backed by bullet proof logistical materials. The targets would be found at malls, main streets, residential neighborhoods all over the state. We would only use the classic red-white circle targets though. No representative images of any critter, human or otherwise that might piss off those Nancies over to PETA, the ASPCA, or that crazed cat lady at the end of the street."

"Remember Folks, in Texas we's all equal, only gun owners and the "unborn" is more equal than others."

At this point, I ran out of breath, stood down, turned around, and sat down.  I immediately felt better. All the recently pent up anger over American Stupidity vanished for a moment or few. I had purged and tossed out ugly thoughts while some light began to slip in.

Ya'll keep your powder dry now, ya hear?

_____________________________

The image up top right is the album cover of a self titled first album I think from a Metal band right here in Maine. I took their name as my post title, but could not find a tune from them that made my metal hairs rise up and be happy. They're not bad, just not my cup of Metal.

So, I had to look elsewhere. The song I found is from a Scottish group, "The Real McKenzies". It is called "Culling the Herd". Rockish, Punkish, it doesn't matter. They wear kilts and have a bagpiper on board. This tune has a " Turn up to WOW" designation.

Are There Still Any Republicans Who Are Not Ashamed Yet ?

If not, then this Tweet yesterday by the Michigan GOP might help them feel some...... No, it should make them feel buckets of shame. (My opinion is in RED)

I am so fed up with the spineless sleaze of the Republican leadership at the local levels, the state levels and the national levels. The GOP rank and file allowed their party's mentally deranged fringes to take over their message and direction. Because of complacency, mistaken trust, or just monstrous stupidity, it is the Republicans who live next door or down the road who are to blame for what their party has become. The sad part is, I am pretty sure they have no clue how insidious and dangerous the new policies are to our country that they have allowed to escape the rancid ooze and goo of the GOP backwaters.

Both parties claim to be patriots, whatever that has come to mean. But only one party seems to know what it used to mean and it ain't the Republicans. Over the last 40 plus years, the GOP has steadily done what it could to turn the Land of the Free into the Land of the Corporation. 

The leadership of the White Wingin Autocrats and the frothing at the mouth Bible Thumpers have been pissing down the legs of their minions and calling it trickle down prosperity. Meanwhile, the party faithful suck in this lie and make excuses for when those golden showers do not result in the utopia of individual freedom and riches their two faced, gutless, sniveling leaders promised. 

They always claim any problems with their plans panning out are the fault of the Left Wing Libtards. The Left is hardly blameless, but they have on occasion, stepped up and and admitted their mistakes when the pressure was on. Instead, the Right doubles down and looks to lying,scapegoating and gaslighting instead of owning up. When that fails  they try to convince us the blunder was no blunder at all, but part of their plan to "Make America Better". ............... What a MF-ing crock of Bullshit.

The political bosses of the Right have no real interest in protecting and/or securing the rights of the individual; nor are they much interested in the overall betterment of our society or culture.The Trumps, the McConnell's, the Rhonda Santis' are in it only for owning control of the national joystick, while filling their's and their sponsor's pockets. 

They apparently, are Hell bent on turning this country into a mirror image of Russia, as it is run by the Right's new champion, Vladimir Putin. I think this "Putin Love" coming from the Right is the most obvious warning that the Right has become a tool of oligarchs and religious fanatics.

................................................... Okay............ Calm down Mike. Easy there, big fellow. You'll blow a gasket. 

I am more convinced now than ever, the worst enemies we have are ourselves, but the worst of ourselves are Republicans.

Later gator .................................................

__________________________

From Youtube, please enjoy, "Pepper", by the Butthole Surfers . Posting it should tell me that by the time I got around to picking a song, I had wandered onto another path and well, at some point I decided I was lost and settled for this tune because I have always liked it and it is by a band whose name is on my Top Ten list of Band Names.

The Grand American Experiment

Forty years after the Civil Rights struggles of the 1960's and 70s I had become comfortable thinking that even though pockets of racist bullshit still existed, they were the exceptions and not the rule as they were during Jim Crow before desegregation. The heavy lifting had been successful and in a few more decades, people of color or people of different ethnicity would be happily assimilated into the Grand American Experiment. Apparently our nation's racist roots run deeper and are more intractably entrenched than I thought.

My mistake in assuming we would all be each other's brother by this time was on me and my White Naivety. 

By the beginning of the 1980s,  I was confident I had shed the racist attitudes I had gathered growing up. I thought most white people had also. The problem is I did not appreciate the unstated advantages I still enjoyed as a white man. It was maybe 20 years ago I broadened my racial awareness by admitting to myself that just being white gave me a big head start over people of color and recent emigres, legal and illegal. 

Then, 14 years ago, the nation elected a black man President of the United States. Not only was he black, he turned out to be a very good president, one of the greats by my estimation.

The ugly racial undertones that had been simmering under our nation's surface again found the light of day. Frankly, I was shocked and totally caught off guard. I did not think this explosion of such widespread racial hatred was still so well entrenched everywhere I looked. 

The Blacks had for years insisted the job of bringing them into the fold was far from complete. Some even insisted race relations were worse than they had been 30, even 50 years ago. At least back then, the racism was in your face and not the insidious racism that saturates almost everything lurking in the dark corners of our culture and not out in the light of day. It's as ugly as it ever was.

My daughter's experience as a passenger in a car stopped for "driving while black"  10 years ago or so smacked the white apathy right out of me. The obvious racist and confrontational tonality of the stop by a state cop immediately became a non-confrontational every day white person stop once the cop spotted Lis. It reminded me of the time as a child when I watched White guys beat on Black protest marchers in Tallahassee, Florida. 

It was a revelation relived.  

Many Whites are still hating and resenting blacks. And the Whites in charge of most everything were at the least, unconsciously pushing White Privilege even if they did not know it. Now they feel accused unjustly without recognizing the insidious nature of the new style racism. Ever since my epiphany I have used different criteria for trying to understand any news worthy event where people of color, other religions, or ethnicity are involved. Now, instead of assuming prejudice of any kind was not involved, I try to assume nothing and allow the facts as I receive them paint the final picture for me. Call it a positive adjustment of the filter I use to observe the world around me.

The Founding Fathers wrote one Helluva a political document when they produced the U.S. Constitution. The first document that consolidated many of the popular political ideas that were currently floating around as alternatives to the monarchical systems that ruled supreme at that time. It established a constitutional government made up of three separate branches of government that was formed by a democratic process. Individual rights were spelled out and protected by law. Or so the rank and file were fooled into believing.

Problem was, White property owners made up the majority of the people who came to together to form a government.  The poor slobs, or call them the serf class, who did the actual hard work of taming our wild country were bamboozled into believing the Constitution was for them, "the people". It was to a degree, and to be fair, the Constitution placed conditions on the ruling classes and endowed everyone with a minimum of freedoms and protections. 

However, built into the great document that set our rules was legal language that gave the deep pockets the last say. In the beginning only White Male property owners could vote. When determining representation by counting populations,  Blacks were only counted as 3/5ths of a person. Women could not vote. Maybe the most egregious mistake right out of the gate, was the formation of the Electoral College and allowing the individual states to define how their elections were run and how they divided the state into voting districts. 

And though some efforts were made to expand the real democratic power to the people, in the end, real power was, and still is, safely in the hands of the White power network. The plantation and factory owners wanted last say and they got it. Everything the Founders did in the area of elections insured the White Rich Minority maintained control. 

The White Nationalist Racism we deal with today is really no different than the racist policies of America since its inception. The Merchant Class along with their mercantile class who are in charge of day to day operations, are an apolitical group whose main focus is profit; first and foremost. Capitalism runs this nation, ideologies are but window dressing.

Skin color, religion, sexual identity are nothing but current flash points to exploit and use to keep the serfs off their game and worrying about each other rather than the assholes who own and run everything. Until we realize it is economics that separate us and not the color of our skin, we will always be locked in their yokes. 

It is called Capitalism and in the wrong hands can be every bit as oppressive as any other "ism". I do think it is possible to have Capitalism and still enjoy our fair share of the pie. Just right now, the deck is so stacked against all of us. They have us pissing on each other's worn shoes instead of pissing on the Wingtips of the Prince's of Wall Street.

So anyway, a random indignation that crossed my mind this morning has turned into something not so random and more indignant than I intended. And while I have been trying to remember to post positive bull shit, well............ old habits do indeed die hard.

Enjoy your Sunday .............................................

_____________________

I did not look far and wide for a tune to attach to the post. I thought of Tracy Chapman right away. Here is her song, "America". The lyrics are excellent. I have always liked Tracy's voice and well, enjoy.

A few lyrics from the song:

There was land to take
And people to kill
While you were conquering America
You served yourself
Did God's will
While you were conquering America

The ghost of Columbus haunts this world
'Cause you're still conquering America
The meek won't survive
Or inherit the earth
Cause you're still conquering America

You found bodies to serve
Submit and degrade
While you were conquering America
Made us soldiers and junkies
Prisoners and slaves
While you were conquering America

Educate Yourself

A comment on Facebook jerked me around some a few minutes ago. In the comment section under the image to the left, a comment went like this:

"I got to where i am

As well without an education. Well I did go to school but didn’t even get into that field, so felt it was such a waste!"

I'm tired of listening to many Americans continuing to buy into the notion that if we don't go to college or finish college, we are somehow less educated and of lesser value than if we had a college degree. I am tired of the false sense of superiority given college graduates over non-graduates; especially in light of the quality of the college educated leaders we have running the show right now. Their example certainly does not speak well of college as environments that build leaders.

A dumber class of movers and shakers I have yet to find. Oh sure, there is always a dimwit in the gang. Just look to Ronald Reagan or most any Republican since. Never has the intellectual quality of Congress, the Judiciary, or the Executive Branch dipped so low as it has in the last six years. We are still dealing with these idiots and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

Those of us who chose different paths other than the expected worn out trails that led us to college need to stop saying we are uneducated. Education is not what is in books. Education is not learning to pass tests or degrees. Education is an ongoing process that involves everything we see, hear, read and observe as we make it from one day to the next. Each and every one of us should be involved with whether we are teaching ourselves or in a classroom. Seems to me a person claiming they are uneducated is a convenient excuse pulled up to cover for well, usually shit that needs no covering. Its an admission they are not of the same caliber as the folks with the mortar board caps and tassles.

Bullshit.

Necessity and want are the two primary drivers of real education. Existing in an educational world because it is/was expected. "Everyone in our family went to college" is not the best reason to attend. There is no doubt that college holds the possibility of broadening one's horizons and possibly increasing one's chances for a good career. As to setting oneself up for the real world, college is only part of the puzzle. Information is useless until one knows how to apply it. Educating ourselves can show us what might be possible, but only hard work and tenacity will make that education work for us. If making money is the only reason to go to college; in my opinion, that is possibly the poorest reason of all.

Later .....................................

_______________________________________

Only one tune fit the post and more importantly, the mood I am in. Please enjoy "Another Brick in the Wall" by Pink Floyd. The song pretty much sums up the current quality and aim of conventional education today, yesterday, and well, like forever man.

Low Hanging Fruit

When I last cut my ties to the social media world and briefly va-kayed on a cerebral tropical isle free of the World's troubles, I told myself if I decided to return to the insidious jungle creep of the social networks, I would only comment or write blog posts occasionally on things political or religious. I discovered however, that for me, the only alternatives to political and religious commentary was staring at cute kitty pics and bad dad jokes.

Okay, okay, its not that bad. But I am indeed having trouble biting my tongue when the Right Wing conspires with the Holier Than Thou Thumpers to offer up so many, so often fat, rich targets of the low hanging fruit variety. They both lead with their chins. Their shenanigans are an addictive drug, an accident I cannot turn away from.

To combat their hold on me, I vowed to write no more than one political/religious bashing post a week that centered on the stupidity of the Right. It has been tough, but I have been mostly successful I guess regarding the political post limits I put in place.

What I did not account for was, not writing about something is easier than not reading about something. It turns out that my real addiction is not offering opinion and disdain, it was sucking in the massive quantities of hate, discontent, and lies  the Right and their Proselytizing  Crusaders for God live to disseminate among the foolish masses.

There is not enough time in the day to ingest all the daily nastiness the Right and their minions foist upon the socio-political landscape, physical and electronic. They are, if nothing else, busy little beavers intent on spreading their vicious virulent version of Reality into every corner of our country. It is not enough to pick on actual events and decisions the Left has blown, the Right feels the need to just make shit up and with straight faces, include it in the overall assault on common sense that they have been waging these last forty years.

Whew!

I should feel better now that I relieved myself of some pent up anger for all things Right Wing. Sadly that was just a calming moment, a brief toot of my whistle. I will be full up again before night fall.

Keep it 'tween the ditches ............................................

__________________________

Picking the music I think has become my favorite part of posting. ....... It only took a minute to locate, copy, and paste a link to the song I knew covered this post well.

"American Idiot", by Green Day was released in 2004. It is a song that not only has stood the march of time , it is more relevant today than ever. Best listened to volume that is cranked hard. And BTW, watch your head. Don't stand too close to objects you may bang your head on.

Ban the Books

There was a time in this country when a book being banned was front page news. The story and its follow up often outlasted the initial 24 hour news cycle. Those days are gone now. Books being banned today are just another news clip fighting for air time with hundreds, if not thousands of other insane events. It becomes just another contributor to the deafening background noise that swirls around all of us today.

Of the thousands of catastrophic events, man made and otherwise, that are in play on any given day, the leaders of the Right force their gas lit messages into the public square. Pro Choice v Pro Birth is the poster child of the inane and stupid issues at the core of the Right's effort to control the messages that we take in. Little of the distractions they jam down our throats are ever as important to all of us as it is to their goal of taking control using every weapon they have in their sleazy quiver of tricks. 

Concerns about book banning, burning and other closed culture acceptances of the silencing of Free Speech should be at the top of the lists of indignities we all have filed in our brain pans. Instead many of us find it more important to waste valuable time and resources legislating away a woman's right to choose, legislating what educators can and cannot teach their children, and creating legislation to squeeze certain groups out of their access to the voting booth. And yes, the same group of Right Wing assholes want to decide through legislation what can be read at the public library.

In my opinion, the right to read any goddamn thing I want is as important if not more so than any other right to Free Speech. Controlling as much of the messaging we absorb through the various media outlets inhibits our ability to think freely and therefore we are then unable to coherently speak freely. 

Critical thinking needs massive amounts of information from everywhere to be effective. Putting up roadblocks to that ability is what the Republican Party and the Right wants. They should be ashamed of themselves, but they are to busy frothing at the mouth slurping their party's kool aid and at the moment they cannot get their heads out of the party's ass long enough to see just what their leadership is doing to all of us, them included.

Rant over ............ Later ....................................

_____________________________

 Found this little ditty "Ban the Books" very quickly. It fits with the post better than my post fits with the post.

Lying Truth Reborn

 

Lying Truth

Facts injected with conjecture and foregone conclusions,

 Cast Truth aside in pursuit of knee jerked solutions.

 Lost in a sea of deception,

 Specious goals are massaged by lying hands,

 Replacing Honesty with Truth’s ugly step sister,

 The Half Truth.

 

 The Midway Squawkers and Snake Oil Salesmen

 Insist and demand the Half Truth into our lives

 Hoping their deception lasts long enough

 For them to cash in their nickels and dimes.

 

 Assaulted long enough,

 We allow recent lies to become our New Truth.

 Delusion casts itself in stone

 Brain dead populations dance around it

 Happy as if they had brains.

 ___________________

I first wrote this as a Flash fiction 100 word composition quite awhile ago. I have now converted it into a poem with some minor changes. It is no longer 100 words, it is now 99 words.

I thought given the current political moods clashing and thrashing worse than ever, re-posting it here and now might just impart how I feel regarding the current crop of leaders and their lackeys.

___________________

So I had no problem locating an appropriate tune for this post. 

"Lyin Eyes" by the Eagles will do just fine.

____________________________________

The Image at top is an enhanced photo taken in Stalingrad during World War ll. 

It is titled " Barmalej " (Children dancing around Crocodile )