It's Top vs Bottom, Not Right Vs Left

The current political battles are not really a Right vs Left fight, but are really a Class struggle based on economic standings. The Cobert Interview with Texas State Rep. James Talarico which CBS pulled before it aired, emphasized the difference between the use of politics to protect the ownership class and keep the poor, regardless of color, in check. 

Manipulating the political and religious perceptions is what it is all about. CBS is newly owned by David Ellison, a proud oligarch and Trump ally. So far, iIt's all about the money with no regard for the honest distribution of news.

James Talarico has been rattling cages and upsetting applecarts throughout the Republican heartland of Texas and the nation for awhile now. He certainly has caught Trump's eye.

James is a Bible thumping Babtist Democrat, and a fierce defender of the Separation of the Church and State clause in the Constitution. He is also anti- Christian Nationalism. I am not usually a fan of any kind of thumper, whether it be a Bible, the Quran, or Mad Magazine, but this guy is a Christian I would and will now pay more attention to. 

The Hacks and Yes men lurking in the shadows, tweeking the message machinery of our social and political consciences, are not interested in politics or religion. Both are just two of their tools to maintain contriol and gain more control over the lowly have nots so that the have all's, the 1%, can continue living the lives they decided they deserved. 

Why do the rich and powerful feel that they deserve being catered to, sucked up to, have everyone bow and scrape to their bidding?  I think it is because they own shit; they own lots of shit; way more shit than the rest of us who own shit too. They own so much shit, they look on the various low life populations teeming around their gates, as just more shit to own and to do what they want with it. People are just another kind of asset.

Owning lots of shit and controlling millions square miles of land, the food grown on it, the people living on it, and the resources exploited from it, has always been a major linchpin of Human Culture. No matter what political system or religious sytem humanity has been trapped in, the social order has always tended to feed from the bottom up. 

The owner class historically pushes the "Trickle Down" theory of goodness and wealth. If we feed the rich more, the more of us who feed the rich will have a larger pittance trickle down to us. The idea is to encourage a feeling of well being and contentment with one's station in life and not feeling like we are shoveling sand against our own tides. Simply put:

Make us richer and we will make you less poor

Propaganda packaged up in fancy words, shared with the unwashed masses through slippery lips for so many milleniums, has convinced the working class to trade their labor for a pittance returned from the deep pockets of the rich and powerful class. As long as the perception of prosperity filled the air, the arrangment has worked for the most part. But the classes closer to the bottom seldom make enough progress to break free into better situations.

The ruling class has sometimes forgotten the delicate balance that exists between feeding the blue collar losers just enough to keep them at bay and becoming tyrannical oppressors who will bleed them dry. The run up to the French Revolution comes to mind. The fall of the Roman Empire could be another. Over time, there have been countless cultures that bit the dust because those who led became way too greedy for more treasure, more land, more slaves.

There have been many new concepts created to tame the tribal existence that is Mankind. On paper, many of these concepts work wonderfully. But all of the new worlds they represent still tend to be based on twists of the original  idea that;

 "We's all Equal, but some of us, is more Equal than others" * *

* * George Orwell is often credited with the original quote as it appeared in his great novel "1984". However, he was playing off versions of the same sentiment that had been around hundreds of years at the least. I am using a version of it I remember from a movie I saw in the 1970s. I cannot remember the name of the film, nor can I remember the plot or other general information. I do remember the quote. A black actor used it to express some irony of Life as he witnessed an injustice transpire.

Anyway, it was nice to see a politician whose view of the current political madness dovetailed nicely with mine. I knew I had found a political kindred spirit, when Texas State Rep. James Talarico  said:

".... the real fight in this country is not Left versus Right; it's Top versus Bottom."

Know the real enemy, but please, 

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

BTW - James is running for US Senator in Texas. His website.

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Here is a song from over 50 years ago. Please enjoy, "Politician", by Cream. It was originally released on their "Wheels of Fire" album. I wore this album out back in the day.

"Random Scraps" , Gusseyed Up and Re-Posted

This was one of my early posts when I first created my blog. I had not read it in years; maybe not since the day I first posted it. Having re-read it now, I thought it might be worthy of a re-post with some trinkets and slight editing.

Here is "Random Scraps" from June 9th, 2006 - Including my immediate thoughts and some slight editing after the re-read.

Lunatics rule, the rest of us drool
Lunatics run amok. Scattering the quiet and calm in every direction. They stand up and scream for the sake of the noise made. They attack our senses and rattle our souls. Hammering nonsense into directives and rules. They focus on the ridiculous and bend our wills to stupid endeavors. And all the while we are distracted by their manic gyrations, the real threats loom. Growing silently patiently waiting for their turn at the front.

            20 years Later - Nothing seems to have changed ; at least not for the better anyway. The new  lunatics have taken the reins now, promising us the same promises only in new packaging.

Okie Overdrive
Dropping down out of the mountains, I shift into okie overdrive. 70,000 pounds of 18 wheeled momentum gathers steam and I grin as the speedometer creeps up to 90. I hold the wheel loosely, letting the truck find it's own way down the three lane wide super slab. The scenery picks up the pace as it zips by my window. But wait. Oh shit! Some curves ahead. Hugging the inside of the first turn, my hands tighten on the wheel as the truck begins an 18 wheel drift to the outside. A foot of space and a puny guardraill is all that pretends to protect me from a 200 hundred foot bummer of a plunge. 

Just as I begin to think it is about time to revisit my past and make peace with my maker, the road curves back and I jam hard into it and ride it out. Easing on the brakes, I pass the bail outs at 80mph still barely in control. One more curve and another drift toward the abyss. Cannot brake now. Cannot engage the tranny, I hang on and hope those new radials live up to their rep. I touch the trailer brake. All I see in my mirrors is smoke and I have to let up. The road straightens some, so I try to find high gear. Grind the gears, double clutch, touch the brake, grind the ...finally the shifter hooks up. Whew!, I ease her down, shift down, and as the engine screams in pain I begin to slow down as the road flattens into the valley floor. Shaking, I pull over to the shoulder and stop. I check my britches. I also check off that stupid trick from my list of fun things to try.

No rose colored glasses here. I almost paid the highest price for being stupid on that night run from Las Vegas to Los Angeles back in 1977.

            20 Years Later - Those stupid moments on I-15 driving south to Los Angeles often cross  my mind. Whenever they do, I will shake my head and wonder who or what might have been looking out for me. ........... Which is why I don't discount the possibility of a higher intelligence having something to do with us and what we are doing to ourselves. 

I just hate the faith based networks we set up to pay homage to that possible higher intelligence; which when I think about it, Hah! Higher Intelligence? If they exist at all, they should be called the "Lower" or "Not Much Intelligence Agency", given just how sadly Humanity is turning out. Somehow, we keep movin on in spite of ourselves.

The Blue Jay
I wanted to kill that fucking Blue Jay. It pounced on that poor sparrow and began pecking it to death. I rushed to the rescue but pulled up short. My emotional knee jerk reaction turned to resignation at the brutality of the natural world. I chased the Jay away and peered down at that poor young sparrow. One wing obviously mangled and useless, it gazed at me from a bloodied eye socket. The eye now in the Jay's stomach I guessed. Nothing I could do. Let nature run its course. I turned and walked away. Looking back, I watched a crow that must have been hanging around, swoop in and take it. With a small taste of satisfaction, I grinned crookedly and thought, "Well, at least that damn Blue Jay didn't get it."

The rest of the day, the violent end of the sparrow popped into my thoughts. I was not sure why it affected me so. But the lesson of that food chain moment had made a point. A re-run of sorts on how the World really works. Life is never secure nor truly safe. Hazards exist and predators lurk.

               20 Years Later - I still on occasion will remember in detail the dying sparrow with the empty eye socket; serves as a constant reminder of just how much of a crap shoot Life is.

Be Sociable and Kind........ But don't be Blind................. Later

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I should do this more often. Listen to the music before I have finished the post. Today, I walked back some years to a time that seems now an idyllic fantasy world I made up. I know we  had problems, but now I wonder if those problems were just stepping stones on the ever rougher pathof stepping stones I have tred on to get to the here and now. 

Perspective. Writng and specifically writing after taking trips down memory lanes are all about perspective. And what seems to affect perspective the most? The passing of time does. 

So, moving on now, I should have done this more often was originally meant to be about listening to music without straining to find a tune that would fit for whatever arbitrary reason I originally had. Just listen to the music and one will strike the right key. ...... I'll know.

I punched up a mix list Youtube had created from the gajillion songs I have played in the last so many years on their platform. I stopped it when this Metallica / Megadeth & the WHO mashup tried to pass by. Here is "Eminence of Holy Wars & Creeping Death". Given the names of the bands involved, I shouldn't have to say it.......Play it as loud as you can stand and then punch it up a notch or two.

Normal Folks

I ran into this meme on the "Opposing Views" group Facebook page this morning. As the page seems primarily made up of mediocre trolls from the Right, this meme was perfect chum to toss into the water. Many comments resulted; a boring majority of which were the standard low IQ comments most  of Tump's drooling minions come up with, day in, day out.

I am including a typical conversation with one of their regulars. He's, well, if nothing else, he is dependable. He loves chum.

Steven P - "God help all children in the hands of depraved lunatics."

Michael Macrum - "Well, thank our lucky stars the children are not in your depraved hands."

Stephen P - "Anything that you consider depraved is regarded as sainted among normal folks!"

Michael Macrum - "Normal Folks" like you I presume? Normal Folks who spend all their time worrying about what people are doing in private, or your normal folks who want to legislate what women do with their bodies by forcing them to have those children they do not want or cannot deal with, thus creating a very negative environment for that mother and child right out of the womb? And what about your normal folks who, once that baby is born, they'd throw them in the ditch if they were not the right color or religion, and the only thing slowing them down now are the normal folks from my side?

Steve, your notions of normal and mine are different. The difference is that your idea of "normal" is dogmatic and feeds on fear, hate, and bigotry. My view of "normal" is flexible and willing to change as new information and trends work their way into our culture.

I would rather live in my normal world which embraces all of humanity rather than your world filled with racist and religious discrimination. The world your normal folks want offers no Hope or Joy. My normal folks tend to embrace Hope and Joy, while not usually caring how and when others find their own Hope and Joy. 

I can tolerate Tight Asses like you. It appears though, the normal folks on your side won't even think about tolerating the Tight Asses on my side. In a heartbeat, many, if not most of the normal folks on your side would dictate through law or violence what and how we live our lives. 

The Proof of that is staring us in the face as I write this. Trump's Thugs have murdered peaceful protesters and kidnapped children, using them as pawns for devious and evil purposes down the road. And who created this crisis? …… The normal folks on your side created this upheaval of the staus quo. I guess ya’ll can’t help yourselves…. If you can’t change it, then destroy it.

That was how I ended the conversation a short while ago. I think I made my point. Stevie boy probably will not take this conversation any further. Afterall, he is a troll and not a very good one.

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

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Found it. Found a song that for me points to the inevitably of change. We can fight it, but as the song by Gangsta Grass points out, "You Can Never Go Home Again". And yet here we are in America and at the moment we are struggling with this basic question. There are those who look back with rose colored glasses. There are those who look forward wearing the same glasses. Most of us I think straddle the line. The Past is a known experience and for many, it was not so bad. For some, the Past was a nightmare. And for most I think the Past is just the Past. Let it rest in peace.

When I found Gangsta Grass some years ago, I found my nose was slightly out of joint. How dare these clowns mix two genre's of music that have nothing in common to connect them. But I listened ... and listened.. and listened some more. At some point, it became clear to me that both genres, Blue Grass and Rap/Hip-Hop was music of the masses, music of America: the songs favored by populations who often straddle the line betwenn those who have from those who don't. That they have begun to honor each other by blending their styles is a positive thing; a Sign Humanity will always move on and usually be the better off for it. Moving On always Trumps Retreat.

Anyway, that woud be my hope while we struggle trying to find our way through the current madness.

Sometimes Doing Nothing is Right

Well-meaning gardeners often harm native bees during late-winter cleanup. These six common habits destroy the pollinators you want to protect:

• Cutting stems too early removes mason and leafcutter bee larvae still developing inside.
• Raking bare soil destroys mining bee tunnels and crushes dormant ground-nesters.
• Clearing leaf litter exposes bumblebee queens to cold snaps before they're ready.
• Tilling beds in early spring kills larvae that haven't emerged from soil chambers.
• Removing dead wood eliminates shelter for cavity-nesting bees that wake last.
• Spreading mulch everywhere buries ground-nester exit holes and traps emerging bees.

The urge to tidy up is strong. But dormant bees need your patience more than your effort. 

These common sense ideas help the natural order of a yard and its tinier inhabitants. They are the perfect excuse to skip Spring Clean Up, or at least put it off to "Manana". I have been doing it every year for well over 50 years. If your significant other is not a heartless, image is everything, nothing is more important kinda of mate, then use this ploy to justify laying on the couch, trolling your favorite political site, or just contemplating your navel. When they catch you with the remote in one hand and the other in an extra large jar of Cheetos, just say:

"Gee, dear darling spouse, I am only skipping yardwork today because of the little critters, the small tiny beasties who don't have a voice. They need lookin after too."

Then look at her/him/them with a sad puppy face gaze and maybe raise an eyebrow to emphasis how much more important the creatures we take for granted are than having a "Better Homes and Gardern" estate.

OR - You can just stop the idiotic destruction of the ecosystem that wraps around the place you call your home and find something else to do like doing nothing. ........ Initially doing nothing in the Fall or the Spring might just be the best avenue. Your immediate environment will be the benificiary as well as the larger ecosystem in the neighborhood, county, state,.... See where I'm going here?

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

This Spring Time heads up is from  "Gardening Success Tips" Facebook page

The Page has all kinds of tips for gardening.

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I was sure I would have a problem hooking up the notion of a garden with the Blues. Google proved me wrong. There were more than a few choices. I picked Mack Arnold & the Plate Full of Blues performing "The Garden Song". Nothing fancy, just a basiic in your face Blues number. Enjoy.

Blame Mass Ambivalence

I am sure many of us have tried to understand how the Hell we screwed up our percieved idylic existence here in the States, and were so astonished by  how quickly it happened.

I became concerned when Ronald Reagan, upped the effort to help the Republicans own America over 40 years ago. We, as a nation, haven't done much to stop the blame game on either side and own up to who really is to blame. For over 250 years, we have been working our way to this critical point in time and the resulting chaos that has us by the short hairs now.

Certainly our leadership led us to this moment, either through planned action and policy change or through creating and nurturing an atmosphere of mass ambivalence. Whatever the reason, as a nation, we did this to ourselves. As a nation, we deserve what we have.

We were led by the nose with promises that our input was important, that our votes counted more than anything else. Yet, right from the beginning over 250 years ago, when the Declaration of Independence was penned, those words were empty right out of the gate. It did not get much better when The Constitution was created. Eloquent words making promises that many in leadership knew were but so much Bullshit. Those words may have meant something then and might have still have meant something now if we had paid more attention and honestly applied those words instead of the 250 yearss of lip service we paid them instead. Instead. we were seduced by snake oil salesmen with slick presentations of imaginary Evils they created for just that moment.

Our current leaders want us to be patriotic without question. They want a nation of servile Nationalists who are blindly loyal to the leaders' vision of  what they want America to be. We have spawned a Leadership that doesn't just want us to believe in American Exceptionalism, they are willing to cram their policies down our throats and up our asses. Authoritarion governments do not foster voluntary love of one 's country. They only present the delusion that the citizenry loves their country, while ruling over them through fear and intimidation. 

When tyrannical methods are used on the populations by fiat, or by armed force, "Love of one's country" is not often how the people respond to their current circumstances. When mandatory loyalty to the flag is too severe or lasts for too long, it will always fail. The length of time matters not, eventually tyranny fails under it's own foul weight.

Good times don't last either. More often than not, the good times are just the predecessors of bad times.Our co-existence with each other is a repeating cycle of good times, then bad times, then good times...... a cycle that has been part of humanity since I guess we first collected in tribes. The cycles may not be unavoidable.The trick is to try to make the landings as soft as possible.  

Every Rise or Fall happens in a series of phases..... Bad to Good, then Good to Bad. I think America has entered a more alarming phase of Good to Bad;  Our current leaders, for the most part, have damaged or destroyed many of our political alliances and allowed our economic strength to wither on the vine. The rest of the world is leaving us in the dust behind them. As the World moves forward into the future, here in America we attempt to move back to a time that only exists in our minds. We have the government in our streets using violence to support government crackdowns on fabricated emergencies that were never as bad as the government contended. Many of them never even existed until the leadership conjured them up.

I see America now at an in between stage. We are no longer on top of the World. We are well on our way to Second Tier status as a nation. My question is, will we make this decline bearable, or will we allow it to snowball while we dick around squabbling and pissing on each other's shoes?

On that cheery note, Later Gators ......................................

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John Prine has a way with song lyrics. "That' How Every Empire Falls", in so few words, explains the reasons Empires fail. Not the nuts or bolts of why, but he shows us the emotions, personal and cultural failings, that are the backbone of every fall.

Arc de Buffoon

When the Orange Cockwomble sees a problem, he searches for a way to make it go away. His first inclination is to do what he wants. Whether the action is right or legal does not matter. The World is his oyster and the Universe that holds that World revolves around the Donald, the bestest buffoon to ever have waddled the planet.. In a word, he is worse than a spoiled child. He certainly governs like a spoiled child.

In his effort to establish a capitol city worthy of his royal presence, I have heard he has a methodically well thought out plan to create the capitol city he envisions; ....... well, he has a bucket list anyway.

I hear part of the plan is to bit by bit, eliminate those pesky tourists by closing down the Smithsonian, the Jefferson Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial and all memorials to the Vets who fought and died in past wars. After all, he knows as all of us should know, dead soldiers are Losers, or they wouldn't be dead. Right? And so the tourists need to go; always scurrying around like insects and spoiling his view from the Oval Office.

He was going to close the Library of Congress (who needs to read anymore anyway?), but someone told him they also stored movies and videos there. Instead of closing it, he wants to tear out some of those useless books to make space for a 500 seat movie theater with surround sound and the best Popcorn machine money could buy. Nobody knows popcorn machines like the Stable Genius.

Then there is another self tribute to himself, the "Arc de Buffoon". When someone is positive they are the greatest gift to mankind like he is, there can never be enough tributes in his honor put in place where he can ogle them out of any window in his White Palace. Statues, his name on every building, and who is going to have the honor of creating the ultimate Trump candy bar? The man's focus on self aggrandizement has no limit. I think he would love to force all citizens to be forced to have branded on their foreheads, "I belong to Trump". Sadly, there is a sizable contingent of the citizenry who would fight to be first in line. I call them "Trump's Buffoonettes"; the folks who are too stupid to understand they mean nothing to him if they are not bowing before him.

Now what does Trump do about the Washington Monument? He has never been a fan. Every time he looks at it, it reminds him of the biological deficiencies he was hatched with. His plan is to demolish the top 75 feet and replace it with a 100 foot replica of a Big Mac. The architects he hired are busy designing the renovation as I write this.

In secret offices and labs underground, they are designing this awesome tribute to Mickey Dee's and at the same time, tryomg figure out who will tell the Don, the existing monument as it stands now, will not be able to support a 100 foot tall, 100 ton Big Mac burger made of bronze, copper, or gold. They know from previous carpet calls, Don does not react well to the word, "Can't".

We should be grateful King Donald is so concerned about the sad deterioration of the Capitol of the United States. Trump may not be able to completely eradicate the undesrables. You know who I mean (wink wink), the brown people, the black people, the Homersexuls, the Libtards, .... all the losers who want to replace God's chosen race, us Peckerwoods. Trumpo has vowed to fight back. He will plant his name on everything he can, informing the folks of color and different sexual identity, they are not welcome in any of HIS establishments. The card carrying haters of America may not appreciate his efforts. You can bet though, us Real 'Muricans do.

Little post note here - Before anyone points out that the burger I placed in my hamfisted collage is not a Big Mac, well, I picked this real statue of a Quarter Pounder because it is a real monument. Fuckin Americans; a very large sculpture of a Quarter Pounder? ...........Really?

If possible, remain calm and stay sane .............................

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So I broke tradition , uh, oh yeah, I already broke that tradition, which I quickly corrected by vowing to never play A-I music. Some traditions just don't last I guess. That one lasted at least a month or two.

So the tune I have today is an upfront A-I effort from the computer magic of "Mr. Newberger's AI Funnies". I respect that he is up front about the lack of any actual humans creating and performing this tune. The song is catchy though. It has a beat, some good riffs and most of all, a clear message. Also, the visuals are what I have come to expect from the A-I world.

Here is "Straight to Hell". Play it loud, or don't. Make up your own mind.

Joe Pyne

I used to watch "The Joe Pyne Show" on WTTG, Channel 5, as a kid when I lived in Bethesdaa, MD outside Washington, DC in the mid 1960s. He was a pioneer TV host who hosted extremely confrontational interviews. 

He was at his best or worst maybe interviewing the stranger folks in America. He prided himself on denigrating them, berating them, and laughing at them. Perfect entertainment for an immature punk with a chip on my shoulder.

Joe's penchant for the weird and the odd allowed me to witness many strange people sit on stage with Joe. Some could not handle his nasty demeanor, but many could and would give as good as they got. Joe Never batted an eye. He could take it and never let up.

This meme crossed my FB feed thiis morning. It regarded an interview in 1966 with Frank Zappa. I had heard of Frank Zappa at that point, but had yet to buy any of his vinyl. He and his band played before the interview. His music was a revelation; outlandish and very disrespectful. I loved it.

Joe Pyne was MAGA long before MAGA had invented themselves. He was an ex GI who was shot in the leg in WWll, which later in 1955 resulted in cancer causing him to lose that leg below the knee. To his credit, I never heard him mention it.

Joe didn't flinch or show any compassion. He was a bull dog with a bone if he smelled fear. Oddly, he was often more willing to suffer a fool who made him laugh. General Hershey Bar was one such guest. I saw him several times. Gen. Hershey Bar was a street performer turned Peace Activist during the Vietnam War. Joe being a hardcore "My Country, Love it or Leave It" conservative was brutal with the General. General Hershey never faltered; never flinched. He held his own, and could put Joe in his place. Gen. Hershey helped me see the stupidity of war and aid me on my path to becoming the Libtard I am today, over 60 years later. And I have Joe Pyne, Conservative Hater Extraordinaire to thank for hooking us up.

Thank You Joe, you nasty SOB, you. Loved your show.

 

Keep your rubber side down and your sunny side up.......................

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Frank Zappa and his music has been a mainstay with me since I first saw him on the "Joe Pyne Show"so many years ago. I was 14 and his music fit me perfectly and still often does. I tasted many of Frank's songs today, trying to find the one that "fit". I decided "Joe's Garage" was the song. More I think because I had to hit the head and it was the last song I listened to.