The U.S. Needs A New God

First of all what 'God' means must be defined. I am defining 'God' in this way.  'God', any 'God', is the object of ones ultimate concern.  Our ultimate concern focuses us and directs our decision making. Our ultimate concern directs our destiny. 

Capitalism is, at the present time, America's God and it's Temples are on Wall Street. The headlines proclaim the numbers that are the litany in the Temple. The success of the stock market is the object of greatest concern to those who worship America's 'God'.  But this 'God' named Capitalism has displayed it's 'Achilles heel' and America has fallen on it's face and Capitalism is the reason America and Americans are having a hard time getting back on their feet.  (Biblical Parallel at the highlighted link.)

So why am I saying this? It's the Covid-19 Pandemic stupid!  This painful experience has shown the world in the worst of possible ways just how inadequate the current liturgy of Capitalism in America is when that 'God' is appealed to for help in time of need.  The People are crying and their 'God' has turned a deaf ear on them.  No help is coming because Capitalism has been caught with it's pants down and is not prepared to offer help.

So much for the concept of 'God'.  We all know what an 'ultimate concern' is. So, back to the day to day where ultimate concerns are easily defined with words like free at point of service Universal Healthcare, Education free of cost, Employment able to support life comfortably and Housing are a few of the ultimate concerns that make up the day to day for most Americans.  It should be easy to see, the People on Main Street need a new 'God' if they are to get out of the mess the present 'God' has stuck them with.

The Pandemic had barely begun terrorizing the general public when the Capitalist supply chain broke down. This 'God'  liked to brag about how supply and demand was the best way to make Profit.  Almost immediately when the Pandemic hit 'God' stopped delivering needed cleaning supplies to stores like the Wal-Mart where I shop.

Virtually overnight in April, possibly earlier, cleaning and disinfecting products like Clorox-Clean-Up and rubbing alcohol stopped being offered for sale to the general public. The experts are urging cleanliness and the Capitalist supply chain is not up to the task of providing commonly needed and simple products to complete the task.  If that does not represent a lie in the supply and demand liturgy by which Capitalism is worshipped what does it represent?

Why has the litany of supply and demand turned out to be a fairy tale?  Why don't the Capitalists want the Profit from making and selling products that are in universal demand? Whatever reason given is evidence that the mantra of supply and demand is a lie and evidence that Capitalism is not worthy of worship.

The failure of Capitalism to produce enough goods to sell at a time of high demand is indicative of a failed 'God' and a failed 'religion' constructed around that 'God'.  The stockholders of those companies should be demanding answers as to why this ability to increase profit for their 'God' is being ignored at the expense of the public health.

The failure of Capitalism in the U.S. to provide the needs of supply and demand impeaches the litany of supply and demand.  The failure to meet this simple objective is an indictment the Capitalist 'God' cannot successfully refute.  The litany of supply and demand lies like a dead letter at Uncle Sam's feet to match the lies proceeding from His lips.

In conclusion America needs a 'God' that can provide in time of need as well as in times when the need is not so great.  If Americans do not change their 'God', the 'boom' 'bust' nature of the Capitalist 'God' is likely to blow them up for good.  

The failure of the Capitalist system to provide such simple and universally required objectives speaks to the weaknesses the Capitalist 'God' is imbued with.  Many of those who hear the Capitalist 'God' speaking are ready to choose a new 'God' that is more in tune with their Ultimate Concerns.

4th Of July Backyard Fireworks

It's is traditional in Marijuana legal states to plant a marijuana seed or transplant a clone on Independence Day. Thank God for the 10th Amendment. 

Independence Day is a time to reflect on liberty and freedom, have a good time and party on down while wearing a mask and granting 6 feet of social distancing respect to all you encounter.  

Carry on! People are no longer criminalized by the criminal justice system and ostracized by society if you follow the rules in marijuana sane states.  The legalization of marijuana has had the overall societal effect of providing a means of soothing over the rough spots that must be dealt with in the day to day, but which can endured with a little help.  The few for whom marijuana legalization has not had this effect are universally found to be  those who were opposed to legalization and have never used the plant and never will.

After the traditional planting ceremonies have been conducted the entire days activities are now able to be focused on. Some like to fly the stars and stripes as part of their personal ceremony.  Some don't.  Either way the evenings activities are the focal point of the day.

Getting there requires several hours of going from store to store and bucking the traffic and dodging impetuous drivers all going after the same BBQ meats, chips, crackers, cheese, dips, beer, wine, corn on the cob and of course Pot.  They all have picnics to supply and they're all in a hurry to get home.

After getting back home the cooking and ice cream making begin. The BBQ cook get's hot and cranky and the ice-cream maker gets tired and sore from cranking.  But when the work is done it's worth it.  It was peppermint ice-cream.   To top it off the hamburger was $2.99 an lb.  A revolutionary price!  

Well enjoy the fireworks.  It looks pretty nice on a big screen.

Is Trump Blackmailing Barr?

It will be difficult to dispute that the Administration of Donald Trump is worse than anyone might have imagined it could become.  The social dystopia and obvious collusion in the context of orders from Donald Trump and the behavior of the Attorney General is making me wonder if Trump has some dirt on Barr and is blackmailing him.  Has that thought crossed anyone elses mind?

Lyndon Johnson knew how that worked.  His way of vetting people went like this. This maxim was what made Johnson confident in his choices: "I never trust a man unless I have his pecker in my pocket."  Could such a thing be at work in the inexplicable and apparently inappropriate behavior by Barr?  I hope someone looks into that pretty soon.  It's getting scary here in the U.S.  Darkness at noon, that kind of thing.

The rule of law is for all constitutional purposes  absent in this Administration.  It's as if justice has been replaced by arbitrariness. 

From the beginning the gold baboon from hell has set about messing with the future of Americans and the entire world. From determining to destroy the eco-system, to upsetting the world military and economic order that previous Administrations had worked to make secure, this President has fucked everything up and he's proud of what he is up to.

His response to his plans being interrupted by COVID-19 has made him the enemy of all Americans who need to work and pay their bills because he has done nothing right when it needed to be done and that is why America is on the ropes economically, constitutionally and existentially.  Of course he could not have done this without the Republican Party backing him all the way.

In retrospect Americans put a man into office and all he has done is known around the globe. He is a bold faced liar.  (proof at the highlighted link.) This man is generally regarded as unacceptable by the majority of other heads of state as the leader of anything let alone the 'Free World'.  His domestic policies appear to have the intent of destroying the future of those who live in America as well as the foundation on which America exists.  

When you let a man who got wealthy through bankruptcy run a nation what kind of outcome can one expect?  The fact that this man is President is an apt commentary on the idea of so called American Exceptionalism.  (LOL)  By electing Trump Americans have demonstrated they are easily fooled by gold baboons making promises.  Let's hope, for the good of the world and life itself, that Americans wise up before November.

Have a nice day.!

The Desecration Of Historical Monuments In The U. S.

The desecration of historical monuments in the U. S. has become a phenomenon in the last few years after a resurgence in white supremacism.  The desecration of monuments to Civil War criminals and members of the political and military elite in the U.S. has become a means of protest.  Democracy Now has a report on the topic at the highlighted link.

President Trump ,as expected, enthusiastically  embraces the resurgent white supremacy as a sign of support for himself.  He has suggested imprisoning those who would desecrate monuments honoring the evil doers who once existed among us. 

Going to prison in order to counteract the ill effects of honoring criminals and traitors just isn't worth it.  There is a better way and it may very well result in the communities themselves voluntarily removing these disturbing monuments.

How about approaching the removal of these monuments to inhumanity in a 1st Amendment kind of way?  How would one do that?  One would set up an information booth alongside the monument to injustice.  In the information booth the People Speaking would provide information detailing the crimes of the individual honored by the monument.  

Such behavior would be legal and it has the possibility of winning hearts and minds as well as alienating some hearts and minds.  So be it, monuments to monsters are still monuments to monsters and how one responds reveals the inner monster in those who support what the honored monsters stood for.

Just as the pen can be a more effective weapon than a weapon of violence, information has the power to enable people to change their minds.   You get to have fun, stay out of jail and change things for the better.  Will they change the name of Fort Benning to Fort Sherman?  It seems as if any victor would if they believed their victory was honorable,  

Have a nice day!

After posting, this video appeared on the Damage Report. It goes right along with the entirety of the post.

Soon To Be A Lame Duck (Poem and commentary)

I was vacuuming the rug listening to a news commentary on the TV and when my back said to stop I sat down.  What was on the screen now was a half empty hall of people amassed and milling in front of a podium.  An old tune by the Rolling Stones "She's A Rainbow" was playing.  The song was from the 1967 album, "Their Satanic Majesties Request".  I couldn't help but pause and think about that irony after realizing this was the President's rally in Tulsa.  After smoking my pipe a few moments I sat and watched waiting for my back to feel good enough to finish the rug.

It wasn't long before the President entered to applause from the half filled arena. I wondered how those in the overflow arena were doing. For some reason he made me think of a turd in the shape of a man with orange skin and a face with moving lips on one end. I had never thought of such a description until he entered the arena. On the other hand the few in attendance reacted as if the God they worshipped had entered the room.

The President felt compelled to give a long involved explanation to clear the air as to why he walked funny and had to hold his glass with two hands while he was at West Point. Some have suggested Parkinson's disease as the reason.  He explained that on the day at West Point he had worn shoes with "leather souls". He was right on his game in Tulsa. He dressed for the Tulsa event with rubber souls on his shoes even though it was an indoor venue and hadn't rained the entire day. He gave an illustration of his walking skills that reminded me of a poor imitation of Chuck Berry without a guitar. 

He also demonstrated his ability to drink water without spilling any on his nice red tie. He explained to the thrill of the audience, which now was enraptured by his every word, how on that day at West Point he had been exhausted from sitting and being obligated to wave 600 times and then having to stand upright and speak. It's a reminder to me I'm as old as he is and all I had to do was vacuum the rug before my back gave out.  When you get up in years those things bother you. Donald is surely feeling his years. 

But he was in his glory in Tulsa; smiling, acting proud and invincible; cocky some might say. The crowd loved it and was transported to ecstasy by his every word as he bragged about all he had done and what he stood for and how a future under his leadership would be better than anyone could imagine. He made no mention of finishing the wall project which is, he said, supposed to protect us. This might be a good time to remember that it is a difficult task to point to a promise the President has kept. Furthermore every great thing he has accomplished is in the future which never arrives but is always just around the corner.

Some of the things he talked about were that he was now in favor of all religions.  It is not difficult to remember how he once, a short while ago, felt about Islam.  Now, apparently, all that has changed. The crowd seemed to love it because he had said it.  Whether they remembered what he had said before is anyone's guess. 

To applause from the small crowd he reminded them of the great number of extremist right wing judges he had appointed and that he had spent 2 trillion dollars upgrading the military with stuff made entirely in the U.S.  He went on to mention the 2nd amendment and some other things important to the Tulsa audience.  

I do not remember him speaking in favor of freedom of the press. He did, however, take time to speak against the protected speech of flag burning. Perhaps that is why he mentioned only half of the 1st amendment.  

If he isn't fully in favor of all the 1st amendment and what the Supreme Court says is completely okay speech can the President be trusted to protect and defend the constitution if he feel's that way about it?

At this point I noticed that the part in his hair was wider than I had previously noticed exposing his bare scalp much more than previously. I had noticed that bald spot for the first time on the day he suggested the use of disinfectants for COVID-19. 

Tonight he jumped from one topic to another like an orange monkey in the tree tops swinging from one branch to another.  At some point he was blaming China for some supposed harm.  The crowd loved the China bashing. One of the funniest things he said was that if AOC were in charge of energy the results would make the COVID-19 pandemic look like "child's play".  That made me laugh and fill my pipe again when he said that. 

He blamed Democrats, Radicals, Anarchists, Joe Biden and his son and a number of others for everything that's wrong now. He complained about the experiment in democracy going on in Seattle and mentioned Radical Maniacs, who would understand immediately why it would not be good to nuke a hurricane but were Radical Maniacs just the same.

He lamented that he had saved hundreds of thousands of lives and had not gotten the credit due him from the fake news. He wants to be sure your kids are side by side in school again very soon claiming only a very few young kids die from COVID-19.  That should reassure all parents with gambling habits. At one point he bragged about his immense wealth in contrast to the experience of most Americans.

I wrote a poem after experiencing the event.

Soon To Be A Lame Duck

He's soon to be a lame duck,
already he's a dumb fuck
always finding ways to make a buck
now looking for a new scam 
to play on those that trust a man 
who promises concrete
but delivers only sand.

Something Is Not Right

So I got to thinking after watching George Floyd die on the evening news that something is not right. George Floyd died in police custody while in handcuffs and saying repeatedly he couldn't breathe. Aid was refused him and as a result he died.  (After posting I found this interview with the murder victims brother.)
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/floyd-s-brother-trump-didn-t-give-me-the-opportunity-to-even-speak/vi-BB14OReM?ocid=spartan-dhp-feeds

Both the accused killer and the victim had English as their language. It wasn't a matter of not being able to understand that the man had a need for air when he said he couldn't breathe.  It was another matter altogether that allowed the accused killer to refuse aid to a dying man. Hopefully the killer's intentions will be revealed at trial for the whole world to see.  As for now this is what the world knows from Bloomberg Quick Take. 

This is how I frame the incident.  A Citizen needed help from a Public Servant who responded by acting in a way that may very well have resulted in the Citizen's death. The Citizen was speaking English which the Public Servant also understood.  What happened was not a misunderstanding.  A cry for help from a Citizen was ignored by a Public Servant who is charged with providing aid in circumstances when a Citizen is in distress. That's how I am understanding this.

What are Citizens to think when they ask the State (in the person of it's representative) to aid them and the State responds the way it did in this instance?  What would you think if it happened to your dad or brother or your neighbor?  Probably the same thing they would think if it happened to you!  And so Minneapolis has a riot that would not have occurred if the Public Servants had acted like servants.  

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once observed that “A riot, is the language of the unheard.”
https://time.com/3838515/baltimore-riots-language-unheard-quote/

The murder of George Floyd also reveals an even greater horror walking the streets of the U.S.  
The death of this man reminds us that the State is deaf when it's citizens appeal for help in plain English.  We, the American People, are facing the same intransigent refusal to hear us when we appeal to the State to help us on many fronts. The Trump Administration's response to the COVID-19 pandemic is representative of the help provided by the Public Servants who let George Floyd die while pleading for the State to help a Citizen. One man died in Minneapolis and over 100,000 and counting are dead due to a mishandled pandemic response. The COVID-19 response of the Trump Administration is representative of the total deafness of the State in it's response to the needs of the residents of Main Street America. 

In one way or another Americans are in the same boat that George Floyd was in.  We need help and the State does not hear us crying.  That is why riots are the language of the unheard. The State hears that, but it no longer understands English and if it does it is ignoring the People. Do you think the State will ever regain it's hearing or it's intended purpose? 

Have a nice day.

Desolation Crow (a video)

Desolation Crow

a meditation on the book of Revelation

a video from Serendipity Studios

Go Play In The Traffic

Go Play In The Traffic

The President of the United States has encouraged Americans to gather together to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth.

Difference of Opinion

  

Stay Away From Church This Easter

Stay away from church this Easter.  Health experts agree, as this March 26, 2020 report by Democracy Now reveals. When an authority figure encourages large numbers of people to engage in risky behavior there is something very very wrong.  Bernie Sanders appears to agree.

Stay out of churches this Easter Sunday if you know and want to do whats good for you and your loved ones. You won't go to hell for skipping church this Easter Sunday, but you may get sick and die as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic sweeping the globe at the present time if you do.  

This virus is not playing around, it's killed the American economy and now it's coming after Americans themselves.  Anyone who encourages you to congregate in large gatherings does not have your welfare at heart. You can apply that broadly.

The Celebration of the Resurrection cannot be separated from the original life present at the beginning.  You do not need to go to church to rejoice in the SPIRIT. It's more desirable than hanging out with a large number of sick people and ending up dead, I would imagine.

Do You See The Irony Now?

I was inspired to write this after watching the following MSNBC report of March 24, 2020 click the letters.

Thumb Down (political poster)

Thumb Down.  Whoopee we're all gonna die.

Democracy Now Reporting March 24, 2020

Yesterday and Today (poetry)

Commentary on headlines in the U.S.

Where are the tests? click

It is common knowledge widespread testing is unheard of in the for profit healthcare system Americans depend on for their very lives.

Americans are not able to easily be tested and the Trump Administration is not being much if any help.  I wonder, as many others must be wondering, if Americans will just literally lay down and die while the President continues to do nothing helpful while continuing to lie about COVID-19. He told us weeks ago it would miraculously vanish. Now, weeks later, it is generally understood that the President was lying about any miracles that might occur and the situation has not been addressed even as the pandemic spreads. Whatever God he is trusting in let him down. Even the mainstream media claims the response of the Trump Administration is outrageous and at the same time Republicans and Democrats try to make political 'hay' from the life and death crisis Americans have come to expect as the result of the Trump Administration policies.

It's Time For Bernie To Run On A Third Party Ticket

Americans are coming to understand neither the Republican or Democratic Parties offer the voter what the voter needs.  Nathan J. Robinson editor of Current Affairs, at highlighted link, gives a detailed panoramic exposure of the weaknesses associated with a Biden Presidency. This is done by exposing the personal character based liabilities of Biden himself.  (The link in the first sentence was added after originally posting.)

Today, March 12, 2020, as a result of the U.S. response to the corona virus Covid-19 Americans are coming face to face with the recognition that the Trump Administration is not leading them to the portal of a 'golden age' but instead to the door of a national mortuary for the elderly and infirm by his Administration's response in delaying test kits to track the pandemic threatening the globe.

As the disease is spreading undetected throughout America the response of the U.S. government has been detrimental to controlling the spread of the disease.  According to Vox "The U.S lags just about every developed country on testing for Covid-19 disease"

While the Republicans are making sure the testing is inadequate and late in arriving the Democrats are up to their tricks. Remember the Republicans are not the only ones who are fighting tooth and nail to keep Americans from having fully covered healthcare and educational opportunities, decent employment, decent housing etc. The Democrats have been of little help either.  In fact the Democrats have cooperated with the Republicans to make America the way it is today.  The Republicans needed that cooperation every step of the way and they got it. The Republicans demand, the Democrats give in and that is called bi-partisan and is considered good.  Business as usual you might say.

Why I don't know, because it has resulted in an unbearable status quo.  The status quo the Democrat Republican cooperation has created is squeezing the life out of Main Street Americans both economically and now with the Trump Administration's response to Covid-19, quite personally as their protocols are actively participating in delaying the control of the pandemic by failure to provide and commence adequate testing.

It is obvious to the casual observer that American elections are not secure from tampering.  The Democrats have been caught a number of critical times trying to keep the platform of Bernie Sanders from being known by all.  We saw it in 2016 and we are witnessing it again now. 

With the cards stacked against Bernie by the Republican and Democratic Parties it is evident that if Americans stand a chance of economic and social justice that Bernie is going to have to run as a third Party candidate. Bernie is going to have to take his show on the road and shake this nation to its senses with his vision. The Democrats and the Republicans have given you all their donors will allow you to have.  But Bernie's donors want you to have healthcare, education, housing, a living wage and a desirable quality of life.

After initially posting I came across this commentary, at the highlighted link, on the Jimmy Dore show which appears to be feeling the way I feel about all this.  Be sure to watch it and decide for yourself. On Friday the 13, Democracy Now provided even more comprehensive information, click the highlighted link.

Today! ... Tomorrow? (video art and poetry)

Today!...Tomorrow?

One of the results of using fossil fuels is burning down the house, so to speak.  

We were told a rise in global temperatures and a rise in sea level  would be some of the initial results of continuing to use fossil fuels. 

Responding quickly and intelligently to climate change was quickly understood to be the 'party pooper' of profitable consumer based societies. And beside that, we were having too much fun to think about doing anything about it until it became, some will say, "obvious" and others, "too late".  At that point all we did was argue about whether our science and our eyes could be trusted more than the words of our leader and those profiting from the situation.  Article by Eric Holthaus.

Ending the use of fossil fuels will require a reorganization of the priorities society has so far been operating under.
Profit must be made a subordinate value when compared to preserving the earth as a place to live and raise children and get old and die.  

Do you really feel we were born to self destruct chasing our every desire?  We chose to go the way of 'profit' as the supreme value. That choice has led us to the present place in time where we are forced to consider the reality of our extinction along with most of the rest of life on the planet. The irony is we did it willfully to ourselves. What a sorry bunch of choices we have made.  We can now choose to do what should have been done decades ago or sit down to the supper of fools.  "The Supper Of Fools" is a poem I wrote as a sarcastic appraisal of our consumer based society. 

Fossil fuels will kill us if given the chance.  

Killing off the earth for a buck or a lot of bucks just doesn't make sense unless one values what can be gained from doing it.  A few whose priorities do not include, life, health, peace or justice have decided to pursue profit no matter what the cost may be.  Rachel Frazin writing in The Hill wrote this on the topic.

We possess a strange state of mind when, so called, reasonable adults can argue that carbon dioxide continually added to the environment will not cause a problem eventually.  Even a child knows better than that. 

Yesterday While Walking (poetry)

Yesterday While Walking 

Yesterday while walking

I saw a frog become a heron

in two gulps,

the day before I had seen

a blackbird become a hawk

and fly away…

 

and in the mirror this morning

the image asked:

"what will you become

if life eats you today?"

© David H. Roche 2020

donald trump HAS BEEN IMPEACHED (poem, video, and art)

This morning while having coffee and watching Democracy Now there was some really disgusting news.  The National Archives and Records Administration has been used for partisan political purposes!  I hope you are equally disgusted.  According to this report from The Ring Of Fire you might be.  The Damage Report adds even more information.

The news often hits me like an uppercut to the solar plexus and takes my breath away.  

donald trump has been impeached,

a national consensus

has now been reached

to keep the past from being bleached 

placing democracy out of reach

a national consensus has made a breach

and donald trump IS NOW impeached!

Our love affair with fossil fuels will make fossil fools out of all of us.

Enjoy the video, poem and art

HAVE A NICE DAY

The Joys Of Privatized Healthcare

The Joys Of Privatized Healthcare

A Ralph Nader podcast on topic of Medicare for all.

Michael Moore "Sicko" 
  

I came upon the Ralph Nader program and the Michael Moore movie after posting this.  It goes right along with the views in my initial post, so I included it. Click on the yellow letters to hear the podcast and see the movie.

You're reading a replacement version.  Due to poor eyesight and no glasses I inadvertently deleted the original post and did not have a copy so I had to re-write it.

The gist of the post was that America is a democratic republic of the people, by the people and for the people.  With that being the case the American People have every expectation of being able to simply decide to give themselves Medicare for all.

Right now in America businesses are allowed to exploit the sickness and disease of Americans for the purpose of increasing personal and corporate wealth.  Medicare for all will put an end to this anti-human practice. Obviously those dependent on gaining wealth from disease and suffering are opposed to Medicare for all. That condition is the rock and hard place Americans find themselves between.

If Americans take the reality of a democratic republic seriously they can change life in America for the better.  When the People do that they can decide to use their tax money for things they need for themselves and their families. They can decide to give themselves fully paid healthcare and education.  They can remedy the problem of jobs that do not support a desirable quality of life. The People can, if and when they decide, have what they want because that's how a democratic republic works.  

For some reason the People seem to have lost sight of that essential feature of their government.  This forgetfulness is the basis of a needed reminder that a government devoted to the success of corporate interests will eventually make life for The People not worth living simply by allowing business to be conducted as usual.

Henry Thoreau had this to say.

"“There will never be a really free and enlightened state until the state comes to recognize the individual as a higher and independent power, from which all its own power and authority are derived.”

― Henry David Thoreau, Civil Disobedience

Henry Thoreau's entire essay On The Duty Of Civil Disobedience is as relevant today as it was when it was written in the 1840's when the U.S. was conducting an illegal war in invading Mexico and taking half of its land. You can both listen to  and read the entire essay at the highlighted link. You'll likely find yourself  thinking "The more things change, the more they stay the same."

Further Still...The Visions Of Saint Psychedelia

The opening images are of a morning glory blossom.  After fiddling with the image a bit an idea arrived.

Further Still...The Visions Of Saint Psychedelia