Time warp...and not in a good way.

            It seems to me that our wonderful country is moving back toward the dark ages a little too quickly for my liking.  Racism is running rampant with the attacks on Hispanics and Muslims in this country. The thought that it is all of them that are bad is the popular idea instead of a fringe belief, and that worries me. Next it will be blacks and Jews again and then women, and don’t forget those pesky Asians that tried to kill us all in World War II.

            I’m starting to think there will soon be segregated busses for people that are too worried to ride the bus with Latino’s or Muslims. We pretty much already self segregate our communities and are fearful of Muslims wearing their turbans openly in public or a group of blacks or Hispanics gathered anywhere we are trying to walk. I remember distinctly a dear friend thinking I was insane for not crossing the street to avoid a group of Hispanic men standing on a corner. I simply acknowledged them as I walked by and they all smiled and let us by without incident. Granted I’m 6’4” 220 pounds but still….

            We are also heading back in time to a place where you needed to own property in order to vote. In the state of Washington as with many states, it is going to an all mail in ballot system. When I asked what happens if you don’t have an address to send the ballot I was told you need to go to one of five polling places set up in the state for actual stand in the booth voting. Oh and you will need proof of your address to vote in the elections.

            I was also told that to vote by mail in ballot you will need to pay the $.70 for the stamp or your ballot will go to the dead mail section of the Post office…so it costs you money to vote already. When I brought this to the attention of the DNC they replied, “It’s a pretty cheep price to pay for freedom.”  The next step I was told is an all computer vote…what if you can’t afford a computer…oh that’s right the 2 hour trip to a voting station will still be available…for now.

            We fought too hard in this country for the rights of all people to vote their ideals and it scares me to think those hard fought rights could go the way of the Dodo.

News Shmews....

          When I was growing up political advertising had a standard that I thought fair. Equal time for all candidates on television and radio. I was watching House last night and saw 15 adds for the Republicans and no adds for the Democrats… That hardly seems fair to me. I guess it has all become about the money. Granted it was a Fox Broadcasting station so I expected a little bias but that was ridiculous.

          I’m not sure what rules are involved for a TV station to get it’s license but it seems to me that if you are going to side one way or the other in a political race you should not be able to broadcast “news” and Fox claims to have Fair and Balanced coverage of major news events. How can anyone truly believe that is the case when they are so obviously biased?

          I feel that stations like Fox and MSNBC who side so obviously in these political races should be referred to as Fox and MSNBC Entertainment…not Fox News or MSNBC News….it’s not news they are putting out…but propaganda.

Sugar High...

            For the last few months I have been trying…key word trying…to cut the sugar out of my diet. I love my cookies, cakes, Ice creams, fudge, brownies and most anything with frosting. As Eric Clapton said it’s most definitely the hardest drug I have ever tried to quit. As I type this up I fell off the wagon of almost a week and ate most of a bag of soft batch chocolate chip cookies and feel as though I just chugged an entire pot of coffee…not going to be a good night for sleeping…great for typing though, as my fingers are flying over the keyboard.

            I’ve been trying to quit not for the obvious reasons…I have a high metabolism so I don’t gain much weight, and not for the obvious health reasons. It’s all because I sleep like a crack head when I eat too much sugar. In years past I always had my pot to knock me out but since I don’t smoke anymore I toss and turn like the whirling dervish. And like all the drugs I’ve done in my life I have no restraint once I start…go until it’s gone …moderation is for monks…you’ve heard them all before, the point is I wont stop ‘til their gone.

            Well tonight has proven the point for me. After no real sugary stuff for the last week I truly do feel as though I am on a drug. Sugar is not harmless…it is an addictive substance that is harder to quit than a lot of the drugs on the market, and believe me I’ve pretty much tried and quit most of them. All I can think about is the song Sugar High…

By the numbers...

            The absolute disconnect I’m seeing in American politics right now I find staggering, and somewhat disturbing. We are in the biggest recession this country has ever faced with unemployment at a staggering 9% among working age Americans…that’s almost 1 in 10 people…and yet the Democrat and Republican parties have invested a staggering $800,000,000 on political advertising to put a handful of people into jobs that pay $130,00 a year.

            If you look at it this way perhaps you will understand my angst. You could put 160,000 people to work for the next year and pay them $25,000 for that year’s work, that’s only 1% of the unemployed, but it’s a start.  You could have paid off 1% of the stimulus that they said is costing everyone so much money. You could pay off .8% off the national deficit. For $0.39 a day, according to UNICEF, you could feed Manuel and his entire family for a week., so you could feed the entire country Manuel lives in for 10 years.

            But instead they choose to misrepresent what the American people want by maligning the other candidate. This isn’t politics it’s a scandal of the highest order to me. People are hurting in this country and instead of fixing anything they argue about their own personal beliefs and furthering their own personal agendas. there is no representation anymore we are simply paying for a “Good Old Boys Club” to run our lives into the dirt all in the name of their idea of democracy.

We had a revolution in this country once for taxation without representation…

Tornado Alley.

Lost thoughts

Flutter through my mind

Like tornadoes

Wandering slowly in my dreams.

They rip through the

Facades that I have created

In the locked rooms

I call my memories.

Twisting and turning,

Wobbling in and out of my

Waking mind,

Like the drunken sailor I used to be.

After the dust settles

the debris falls around me

Like snow on an open field.

I pick up the pieces

And re-build

In a new location,

Outside tornado alley.

Lost friends...lost rights

            I have recently lost several friends on Facebook from a post I made about the New York City Mosque and their right to build two blocks away from ‘Ground Zero’ of the Trade Center bombings. I know it is a controversial subject but to me it is a simple subject. We have the First Amendment right in this country to freedom of religion.

            If we take the stance that they are Islamic and they shouldn’t be allowed, then next comes the argument that they are not Christians and we shouldn’t have it, then the argument that they are not Catholic and we should not have them and that is why we came here in the first place.

            Look, the location might not be ideal and we may not agree with them in their beliefs but fundamentally they have the right to build there. I am an atheist (Swear to god) so I could make the argument that I don’t want any of them in my neighborhood or as John Stewart said we could argue that the Catholic Church shouldn’t be allowed to build a church near a playground. But the truth is they have the right.

            There is a reason that freedom of religion is the First Amendment to our Constitution. And it should be . I’m sure I will lose a few more friends for this…but to be honest I would find it hard to be friends with someone with that constricted a view in life. (Nice way of saying narrow minded).

The well.

Falling into myself

Is like a rock slowly slipping

Into the dark of a long empty well.

I tumble quietly

Into the darkness

Watching the world slip by.

Memories

Like fragments of time

Caught in clear pictures

Fly by on the rocky walls.

It’s not a scary fall

But more like an amusement park ride

Exciting and thrilling,

But in the end

Totally safe.

The River.

            I was standing waste deep in my favorite river fishing for the ever elusive King Salmon watching the sky turn a shade of purple I have yet to see in the crayola box last weekend thinking at that point about what makes me smile. I could see forty pound salmon swimming just feet away from me and Bald Eagles chirping in the multi colored trees, and yes eagles chirp…granted much louder than a sparrow…but still a chirp, and realized this is what puts a great big little kid smile on my face.

            The eagles were truly having a much better day of fishing than I was but I somehow figured I was having a better day all around. I wasn’t fishing to survive but simply fishing for the fun of standing waste deep in a freezing cold river at five in the morning just for the pure joy of the moment.

            As the sky went from a deep purple to bright pink the fog started to grow along the river and bury me in a cold bright mist. The trees took on an almost surreal look as the light grew but was diffused through the mist and made the trees reflect into the calm river turning it a wondrous kaleidoscope of colors. The fish jumped happily in the early morning light as if to say good morning, and also torment me in the process by telling me they were certainly there but wanted nothing to do with my tricky nonsense.

            I didn’t catch anything that morning but my breath, which in my case was desperately needed. So the morning was most definitely not a waste of my time by any stretch even though no fish were tricked by my hunks of metal being tugged through their home but I look at it this way, nature to me never ceases to put a smile on my face or give me that tingle one feels when falling in love, and it never lets me down.

Three little words.

            I’ve decided to sit and think about what is really bothering me about my country and it’s people and politics, and the same words keep coming into my head; Honesty, honor and respect. I feel that those three words can sum up the way I feel. Unfortunately it’s the lack of all of those things that I see.

            The lack of respect by people to each other can be closely related to the lack of the other two. But how can I feel that things can be any different when the people we have as role models in this world choose to ignore these basic ideals. I know we have the obligation to choose proper role models and mentors in our lives but these days honorable, honest people are hard to come by. I am lucky to be surrounded, for the most part, by family and friends that believe deeply in these things.

            But I must leave the house every now and then and find myself thrust into a world of disrespectful, dishonest, dishonorable people that don’t care what they say or do as long as they are getting what it is they want in life. When I was young we were taught to be aggressive in order to get what we wanted, but we on a whole tried to do it with a modicum of respect and definitely with truthfulness and respect, at least I was.

            But again as I watch our countries leaders lie to us and disrespect each other in ways that would make Al Capone proud I know why our latest crop of young Americans have no respect for anything. Why would they everything they see tells them that if you want to get ahead in this world you have to lie cheat and steal to get there. You don’t need to honor your promises because you have the right to change your mind every ten minutes as it suit’s the situation.

            I guess what I’m saying is we need to be honest to ourselves and therefore each other; respect our own convictions and beliefs and by default each other’s; and by doing both we regain our honor. People have come to know their rights in this place but not their responsibilities. It’s time we became responsible again