Today is one of those days when the past creeps into my mind. It seems to happen a lot as of the clock runs down. Today there was this slight haze in what other wise was sunny day and the pleasures of the young came to me.
Those days in South San Gabriel, summer hung about me like a sweet taste of a cold melon. Days were spent taking short trips to Garvey Park to see if anyone was up to a swim or just hanging out and enjoying the cool of the grass that the park offered. It was a time when innocence was still a virtue and although I was far away from being a "good boy" I still had no knowledge of politics, business, the nastiness of people or what was ahead. The summer heat and cool grass kept that all away from me and my friends. How easy it was to laugh, wrestle and other wise wile away the time that was given to us.
That time for me now, is that sweet melon, I did have it and do remember it.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
The New American Pessimism
Exerpt from NY Review of Books by Charles Simic. And yes I am one that still reads.
...In an atmosphere of growing anxiety and hysteria, in which the true causes and the scale of our dire national predicament are deliberately concealed and obfuscated by our political establishment and by the corporate media, no wonder there’s confusion and anger everywhere. As anyone who has traveled around this country and talked to people knows, Americans are not just badly informed, but downright ignorant about most things that affect their lives. How nice it would be if our President leveled with us and told us that our deficit is caused in significant part by the wars we are fighting in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the hundreds of military bases we are maintaining around the world, the huge tax breaks for the rich, and the bailout of Wall Street.
As we know, we are not about to hear anything of the kind. By the president’s calculation, telling the truth to the American people would doom his reelection campaign, since he would not be able to raise the billion dollars he needs this time around. The kind of people who have that kind of money and will agree to contribute to his campaign know very well what informed voters in a working democracy would to do to them once they understood just who has depleted the national treasury to line their own pockets. No doubt, he and his political party will do anything to avoid the truth and will propose outwardly attractive solutions—like the health care bill that not only expands coverage but greatly benefits insurance companies and does little to reduce healthcare costs. They hope that these kinds of measures will lure the majority of voters who won’t bother to learn the details, but they will also send a clear signal to the moneyed classes that they won’t be inconvenienced in the least. ...
http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2011/mar/10/new-american-pessimism/
...In an atmosphere of growing anxiety and hysteria, in which the true causes and the scale of our dire national predicament are deliberately concealed and obfuscated by our political establishment and by the corporate media, no wonder there’s confusion and anger everywhere. As anyone who has traveled around this country and talked to people knows, Americans are not just badly informed, but downright ignorant about most things that affect their lives. How nice it would be if our President leveled with us and told us that our deficit is caused in significant part by the wars we are fighting in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the hundreds of military bases we are maintaining around the world, the huge tax breaks for the rich, and the bailout of Wall Street.
As we know, we are not about to hear anything of the kind. By the president’s calculation, telling the truth to the American people would doom his reelection campaign, since he would not be able to raise the billion dollars he needs this time around. The kind of people who have that kind of money and will agree to contribute to his campaign know very well what informed voters in a working democracy would to do to them once they understood just who has depleted the national treasury to line their own pockets. No doubt, he and his political party will do anything to avoid the truth and will propose outwardly attractive solutions—like the health care bill that not only expands coverage but greatly benefits insurance companies and does little to reduce healthcare costs. They hope that these kinds of measures will lure the majority of voters who won’t bother to learn the details, but they will also send a clear signal to the moneyed classes that they won’t be inconvenienced in the least. ...
http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2011/mar/10/new-american-pessimism/
Sunday, March 13, 2011
My wife Carol, Politics and other
I am forever fascinated by my wife Carol's perceptions and pleasures. As to perceptions, the other day we were sitting outside (first spring day, at last) watching the birds that she so assiduously feeds. As we watched, out of nowhere came a Carol concept. "What if birds had teeth". This of course led to wondering what it would be like if Piranhas could fly. That set off a stream of conscience discussion of the sport of shooting migrating Piranhas as well as how to protect the population from marauding fish.
Regarding pleasure, we have two cats, George and Gracie (as in George Burns and Gracie Allen for those of you that do not have a burning love of comedians through the ages). We maintain an inventory of little stuffed toys as playthings for the cats. Each night after we go to bed we hear these horrible cat cries as they come down the hallway and into the bed room.. Each morning we that see under our bed and in the hallway, the carcass's of little stuffed toys. They apparently are the gifts that cats so love bringing those that make eating so easy for them. (As a cartoon once said, "Cats signed the Declaration of Indifference")
"Democracy is three wolves and a sheep voting on what's for dinner."
On other matters (as I have not been current in Denny BS) the President, who seemed to offer so much, was (as the Onion put it) replaced by a replicant whose policies are so far from what he was saying and so far from what this nation needs. I am not sure when this happened but I am now calling him the origami president; touch him and he folds.
I am greatly comforted by the fact that is not my problem as I will be no more when the bill comes due. Those of you that remain, you will continue to have half assed schools (as many are right now), Infrastructure that falls down on a slightly windy day, Oligarchs picking your pocket at every turn and then tell you they are taxed too much, (which reminded me of an old saying "you may call it trickle down theory of economics, I call it pissing on my back), Water that taste like a sewer and Air that you can cut with a knife. On that last item I remember in the late 1940's in Pasadena, CA how the air was so full of smog that it hurt the lungs to breathe.
There I got that out of my craw. I must admit though that I am not sure what a craw is except some fish have them and Cajuns love them. To close this bit of mind dump I present you with a quote from Bill Hicks:
"They lie about marijuana. Tell you pot-smoking makes you unmotivated. Lie! When you're high, you can do everything you normally do, just as well. You just realize that it's not worth the fucking effort. There is a difference."
Regarding pleasure, we have two cats, George and Gracie (as in George Burns and Gracie Allen for those of you that do not have a burning love of comedians through the ages). We maintain an inventory of little stuffed toys as playthings for the cats. Each night after we go to bed we hear these horrible cat cries as they come down the hallway and into the bed room.. Each morning we that see under our bed and in the hallway, the carcass's of little stuffed toys. They apparently are the gifts that cats so love bringing those that make eating so easy for them. (As a cartoon once said, "Cats signed the Declaration of Indifference")
"Democracy is three wolves and a sheep voting on what's for dinner."
On other matters (as I have not been current in Denny BS) the President, who seemed to offer so much, was (as the Onion put it) replaced by a replicant whose policies are so far from what he was saying and so far from what this nation needs. I am not sure when this happened but I am now calling him the origami president; touch him and he folds.
I am greatly comforted by the fact that is not my problem as I will be no more when the bill comes due. Those of you that remain, you will continue to have half assed schools (as many are right now), Infrastructure that falls down on a slightly windy day, Oligarchs picking your pocket at every turn and then tell you they are taxed too much, (which reminded me of an old saying "you may call it trickle down theory of economics, I call it pissing on my back), Water that taste like a sewer and Air that you can cut with a knife. On that last item I remember in the late 1940's in Pasadena, CA how the air was so full of smog that it hurt the lungs to breathe.
There I got that out of my craw. I must admit though that I am not sure what a craw is except some fish have them and Cajuns love them. To close this bit of mind dump I present you with a quote from Bill Hicks:
"They lie about marijuana. Tell you pot-smoking makes you unmotivated. Lie! When you're high, you can do everything you normally do, just as well. You just realize that it's not worth the fucking effort. There is a difference."
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