Autumn

Autumn has come yet once again.

Beyond my garden window I glimpse in a moment
The flash of many wings among the stand of trees beyond.

I slowly turn my head to gaze upon a flight of doves, perhaps,
And see that the flashes are but leaves, shuddering downward
In their multitudes, from the many branches to the ground below.

And there they lie upon the grass, in slumber,
Awaiting the comfort of Winter's blanket,
And the long, peaceful stillness at the last.

Seeing this I know that there will come a time
When I will miss such a sight as this.

Perhaps in my own still and silent moment, looking back,
I will glimpse for a moment the flash of many wings that are but leaves;

And recall it, if for but an instant,

As I lie still upon the ground, awaiting slumber,
And the peaceful gift that Winter brings.

The Republicans have come up with a masterful electioneering move by taking advantage of the current financial debacle engineered by the ineptitude of the Wall Street plutocratic elites. I only hope Obama’s strategists are smart enough to respond effectively.

McCain has announced that he is suspending his campaign pending the passage of legislation on the Hill addressing the financial crisis. This includes passage of the 700 million dollar bailout package pretty much on the Administration’s terms.

It also includes suspension of Friday’s debate with Obama.

And having his fellow Republican, and President of these United States, call for a “leadership meeting” in Washington which would include him and Obama.

The move effectively hijacks Obama’s campaign, and makes any further move extremely problematical.

Why? Okay, most voters are simple, good-hearted folk, and they will not see the cynical political thinking behind McCain’s statements.

First, it postpones a national forum at which Obama cannot but come off as the clear winner, owing to his polished and powerful speaking style. McCain will undoubtedly appear wooden, uncomfortable, and a bit befuddled.

Second, it forces Obama to alter his own campaign to suit McCain’s electioneering strategy. If Obama shows up for the debate who do you think will be the winner in the eyes of the electorate?

McCain, of course. He’ll claim to have put aside his own political ambitions in the interest of the American people, and he’ll accuse Obama of engaging in politics-as-usual at a time when he should have been more concerned with the welfare of the nation. Obama would be screwed.

Of course, if Bush does decide to play along and call his phony “leadership conference” Obama couldn’t refuse to heed the call of his President. To do so would be political suicide.

Thirdly, McCain’s move fosters the illusion that he’s providing some kind of national leadership at the time of crisis.

No! It ain’t so! Leadership should be coming from the President and his cronies. (By the way, have you seen Cheney lately?) McCain is only a Senator. Like Obama. His sole role in this fiasco is to speak on the floor of the Senate either for or against the legislation. That’s all!

The truth is, McCain has simply called a halt to the campaign at a time when the latest ABC poll shows him trailing Obama by nine points. This can only redound to his benefit.

Obama’s response? Well, that’s a toughie. McCain’s put him in a tight bind. But I would recommend simply playing along for the time being, making the most to emulate McCain’s “leadership” posturing.

Two can play at this game.

Believe me, the Republicans won’t be able to resist the urge to engage in character assassination for long.

Then Obama will be able to take up the campaign again, expose McCain’s move for the sort of cynical electioneering ploy it is, and walk away with the election.

The Revolution Is Here

Look!

I’m sick and tired of turning on the news and hearing some pundit blame me for the meltdown of the global economic structure.

Believe me, I didn’t do it!

When my wife and I bought our home we did it the old-fashioned (read ‘correct’) way. We made sure we could pay the mortgage each month. We made sure we came up with a twenty percent down payment. And we made sure to get a fixed rate.

Sure, we bought an old split-level ranch that needs work. No cathedral ceilings. No marbled foyer. Small closets. Clunky old bathroom.

But we bought what we knew we could pay for. After twenty-two years I continue to pay for it, on time, each month.

I also pay off my credit card balance each month.

So to the dour economic analysts who stare at me from the television screen so severely, as though expecting me to shoulder the burden of their fear and panic, and who judgmentally pronounce, “Who’s to blame for the mess on Wall Street. Well, we all are,” I have only one thing to say:

“BITE ME!”

I’ll tell you who’s to blame. The greedy runaway free-market capitalist speculators who wanted to get something for nothing as quickly as possible are to blame.

The only good thing to come out of this whole mess is the nationalization of a large part of the economy. Why is this a good thing? Because it’s happened during a Republican administration. That’s amusing.

The same party that has screamed for smaller government, that gutted and hobbled regulatory agencies, that has sought to privatize as much of the federal government as possible, that has foretold the demise of Medicare and Social Security because of bureaucratic mismanagement, that has wagged it’s finger at the American people for shouldering our grandchildren with unbearable governmental debt,

I say this same Republican Party has now taken the biggest step toward a socialized American economy in modern times.

Bush came into office prepared to dismantle the federal government and hand it over to his plutocrat robber-baron buddies.

As he leaves office the federal government owns a larger part of the economy than ever in modern times.

Now, some might call this socialism. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Unfortunately, I’m afraid the right-wing pundits will avoid the term by pointing out that, unlike under true socialism, ordinary people are not receiving any benefits as a result of hundred of billions of dollars in federal bailouts.

Still, I bet they’re glad those tax cuts didn’t come before they had a chance to rob the federal coffers to save their capitalist asses.

Bottom line, the unregulated free-market fucked up. The revolution has come. And it was led by Wall Street.

Let's Keep The Catcher in the Rye

I’m having trouble getting used to my new aide. She’s at an age I remember quite well, even though I would seem to be well beyond it.

You know. The age when all the older people around you seem to know each other and communicate in a kind of meaningless jargon that they can’t see only diminishes them in the eyes of any real person.

Directions. Interest rates. Home values. Kids and their inconsequential activities. Pictures of grandkids and other wastes of time.

They just can’t understand that these things are just meaningless bullshit.

Yet, when you mistakenly attempt to communicate with them about the really important things they look at you with blank, uncomprehending stares. And these quickly morph into condescending smirks, accompanied by, “Wait until you become a little older. You’ll understand.”

And at that point you do understand. They have surrendered.

They have become THEM.

And you can’t talk to Them. You can only turn your back and have as little to do with Them as possible. Because they’ll try to get you. They’ll try to turn you into one of Them. With their vacuous stares and fervent belief in inconsequential nonsense.

And They can afford to be smug about this. Because time is on Their side. Just go to sleep. Just get a little older. Soon you’ll become one of Us. Soon you, too, will be gushing over pictures of the kids and trips to Disneyland. Soon you’ll be arguing fervently over directions to the local 7-11.

NO! NO! You fight! You flee! You’ll never become one of Them!

You know that you belong with your friends and acquaintances. Some of them may be jerks and assholes. But at least they’re real people. You argue with them about real, meaningful things.

The rest of the world, They, don’t understand. How could They? They’re phony. Empty shells. One night they went to sleep, and the next morning They got up the same way. Asleep. Empty. Now They live sleeping, empty lives.

Still, you eye your friends and acquaintances warily, carefully aware of the first signs of change.

Then it begins. So-and-so has become engaged. Another is buying a house. Still another is pregnant and excited about doing up the baby’s room with her finds at Ikea. At a party you overhear an acquaintance becoming a little to involved with the directions to a local party store. They’re becoming Them.

You find your friends dropping away. Slowly. One by one.

Eventually you find yourself holding onto one, maybe two people to whom you can talk freely. Your closest friends, who don’t register mild shock at what you say. Who don’t look uncomfortable when you’re in a confessional mood. Who can still look you in the eye when you say something that might make others retreat.

Because they’re dealing with their own issues. They’re still living with their own shadows. They understand you.

And then, even they are gone. And you’re all alone. No one out there understands.

You don’t fit. There’s no place for you among Them, among the living, among the rest of the world.

Everything’s not fine. You don’t have kids doing great in school. You don’t love your job. You just don’t care about the pictures They took on vacation.

All Their lives seem filled with what is false, phony, bullshit.

And this is why I think The Catcher in the Rye remains a classic.

Someone on NPR characterized it as out-of-date and should no longer be included on high-school reading lists. What young person can identify with a young person kicked out of a private prep school in 1951?

Okay, maybe not many. But I think that the way it presents an individual’s profound sense of alienation from the world around him is spot-on.

Besides, I sort of like Holden Caulfield. Sure, he seems a narcissistic, immature jerk at the beginning. But you have to admit that a guy who has such tender concern for his younger sister despite his inner torments can’t be all bad.

Go Here

Out of a sense of socio-political outrage I've been forced to create a new blog.

You'll find it right here.

I still intend to put most of my creative things on this blog. But I didn't want to clutter it up with my political rants.

Not By A Long Shot

Whenever I hear someone say that they’re not interested in politics and don’t vote, because both parties are virtually the same and voting doesn’t make any difference anyway, I just have to speak up.

The parties are not the same. Not by a long shot. The Democrats and the Republicans represent two starkly different views of human nature and, as a consequence, how society should be structured.

Democrats believe:

1. Human nature is basically good.
2. Human beings can and should aspire to a peaceful, mutually-supportive society.
3. Relations with other societies should be based upon the belief that the large mass of humankind wishes to live in peace and security, and that areas of conflict should be thoroughly understood and addressed reasonably.

Republicans believe:

1. Human beings are basically perverse.
2. Human beings can’t be relied upon to do the right thing, and have to be closely controlled with laws and restrictive social policies.
3. Individuals are basically on their own. You’re responsible for your own actions, but not for anyone else.
4. Other societies act solely out of a concern for their own self-interest, which immediately puts them in conflict with our own. Therefore, any sign of conflict must elicit an immediate and overwhelming negative response. Let the academics worry about the issues later on.

Every election is an opportunity to make a choice in what is an ongoing cultural conflict.

I am clearly a Democrat by conviction.

I believe people are basically good, and that we can fashion a society that houses the homeless, that feeds the hungry, that tends to the ill, and that allows its members to live with hope, in peace and security. I regard a large standing military as nothing more than an organized welfare state with weapons, better put to use building the infrastructure which makes our society strong.

Which is why I’m voting for Barack Obama.

Times Are A'Changin'

Wasn’t there a time when teens having children out of wedlock was a bad thing?

Like when inner-city black girls were having those children? And when social conservatives were railing against sex education in the high schools, because it would lead to high school girls having children out of wedlock.

But now it seems it’s all okay!

The women at the Republican convention are all just so excited over the fact that the teen-age daughter of the party’s vice-presidential pick is pregnant out of wedlock.

Oh, no problem!

Because she’s getting married!

To a guy who calls himself “a fucking redneck”. And who doesn’t want kids.

This’ll be a marriage to watch.

If it happens.

These are definitely the least pleasant of times. After the TV is turned off and my aide leaves. As I lay in bed a silence grips the house with such a completeness as to seem in itself almost audible.

I tried to watch the Republican convention on CSPAN, just to hear voices. But thirty seconds was enough to convince me that I'd rather suffer the silence than listen to their crap.

Gustav seems to have spared New Orleans. Still, I heard someone on NPR remark that this does not prove the city is prepared for another Katrina. It only shows the city was ready for Gustav.