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The Vast Offending Multitude

See I've got this theory.

People complain that folks scuttle off to forums and blogs on the internet that they agree with. So they spend all their time listening to their own views restated back at them, and therefore forget how to get along and repsect others that don't agree with them. There's a couple of things I think about that. One is obvious. The internet ain't perfect. Communication here is visual, and in forums is pretty much just written verbage. And most of us, this clayish sort included, aren't even Faulkner wannabes. There's a fair number that relied on Cliff Notes and lucky guesses when honing our written communication skills. Hence the emoticon. I've owned a computer with a good internet connection for almost 5 months now. And out of my extensive experience, I have come to appreciate the use of the variety of abbreviations and emoticons. But emoticons and torturous verbage only suffice for what... 10%? 20%? of human communication.

You can't generally see someones facial expression on the internet. You can't tell how tired they are, complement them on their hairstyle, watch them move their bag when they sit down, or appreciate the soles of their shoes. Communication seems to be limited to the impact suface of a ram's horn when fighting on a mountaintop.

I would plea, be civil people. But when, really, has civil society been civil? I think a lot of people have been conned by the sterile angles of our monitors... Need I sift through history? Public hangings? floggings? the stocks? viewing the insane at Bedlam... mob violence (pick any point in history)... public stoning.... And that's just a scattering of the more grotesque examples. Discrimination, racism, and bigotry are all viciously alive in our theoritically hygenic times. And wars continue...

So you sit down, moving your bargin basement bag as you ease those too tight shoes off your swollen feet and scrunch your greasey face up as you stare, with determined humaness, at the cool grey monitor... Who do you feel in the mood to tolerate?

I'm bummed. But then, I'm human.

Productive Cocoon

Cocoons have a bad rap. I don't know why, particularly with the world as crazy as it is. Here are a couple of pictures of my refuge. On the floor at my right side is a boom box, behind it on a small stool is my ultrasonic, and above that is the polishing wheel. To my left is the torch pickle pot and flux. Among other assorted items... it is a well textured space.




I like looking at other's workspaces. Its not just a vingette on someone's personal space and style... it is deeply and recognizably human. There is a bonding to be had at the point of creation that is, I think, most accessible in the space of creation. Perhaps because everyone has held a pencil, or a knife. The product is of the artist or artisan, but the space can be looked at and recognized for its small universal components.

I Protest

Lately I've gone back to protesting the Iraq war. I attended 2 protests in Washington D.C. at the start of the war, one right before and one when I thought things might change. During the first protest I felt hopeful. Like, maybe somebody might listen. At the second, I realized I was doing it more for my own peace of mind. I just felt and still feel that this war is an expensive incompetent mistake that is killing people.

So a couple of times lately I've been holding up anti-war signs at a local overpass and waving at the cars beneath. Stuff like "Honk to stop the Iraq War" and mine says "Money for Healthcare not Warefare." 3 weeks ago when we did it, only about 3 people flipped us off. Even 2 cars with uniformed military guys driving honked and waved. The vast overwhelming response was positive. And there are thousands and thousands of cars. This last time about 5 people flipped us off. I smile and wave at those that flip me off for 2 reasons. One is, there is no way to compete with such negativity so why try. The other is, I know it pisses them off. And, without exception, the people that are flipping us off are white males. Not even older white males. They are young to middle aged white males.

I don't feel that great about this effort. I am doing it for me, again. This war will go on, at the rate of 10 billion dollars and how many deaths PER MONTH for the next 10 years. That could buy a lot of health care.

I want to immigrate to Canada. I don't have health insurance and it isn't possible at this time either. And I feel that a country that spends 10 billion a month on such an incompetent and deadly mistake does not demonstrate good priorities for its citizens.

Classey Pinkies

Which is more important than you think, I think, except right now when I am definitely not thinking. Totally, that is. What I do think is... boy those Pats ROCKED! Was there one thing that won the game? HELL NO! They freaking ROCKED ALL OVER! The important elements of the Pats offense? Brady Moss Marhoney Morris Watson Welker the offensive line.... And the defense? Colvin Thomas Hobbes Samuel Warren.... And I know I left some key players out. Man did they rock. They were all on the same beat and did it. (I didn't list Wilfork. And he's the man, man. With a great smile like that he can just sit back and beam. Of course he doesn't, but.)

But talking about Pinkies. I understand. I totally understand. I have been under a pinkie cloud too.... Am currently a recovering pinkie-itis afflicted. I would like to quote somebody here. Loved this:

SPENCER, IA-- Democratic Presidential candidate Governor Bill Richardson, campaigning today in Iowa, issued the following statement regarding the recent "spying" incident involving the National Football League’s New England Patriots:

"The President has been allowed to spy on Americans without a warrant, and our U.S. Senate is letting it continue. You know something is wrong when the New England Patriots face stiffer penalties for spying on innocent Americans than Dick Cheney and George Bush."

That's not the whole story. Colvin (of New England Patriots) covered whatever better. (Boston Herald article.) Me, I'll settle for being a brew swilling broad, squiting at the T.V. and hoping the good guys are good enough and they win.

GO PATS!

CHEATERS!!!!!

Thought I'd get that out of the way... And the obvious... agaisnt the Jets? THE JETS? Nothing against them but... really.
The Jets?

It points to... what the Pats did on Sunday was so routine for them that they did it against a team they should've beat by 21 anyway.

My theory. Last season there appeared to be a steep learning curve in play calling by the offense. By the end of the season, it was pretty good. Sometimes a screw up (Miami, first half Chargers), but generally pretty good. Now we know why. I just don't think Josh McDaniels is any where near the offensive coordinator that Charlie Weiss was. I think this is how they were compensating. And I think this stinks. Its a bad crutch to be so dependant on. Also, play calling wins and looses games.

It is true stuff like this has always been going on. Its why catchers call the pitches between their knees, why coaches hold up papers or otherwise cover mouths, why signals are changed for every game. But what the Pats did sounds so blatant and routine. (Against the Jets?)

Its hard to be sorry for a 300 lb guy, but Wilforks bigger than that and I feel bad for him. I feel bad for Hobbes and Vrabel and Thomas and Bruschi. I feel bad for Welker and Brady and Dan (the center). I feel bad for the entire offensive line (those guys are great.) And Green and the rest of the defense. They've been let down. Big time.

I don't want to watch Sunday. I'll think about it. But really, I don't want to watch.

GO PATS!!!! eh.

My prediction was, Pats by 21 over the Jets. Depending on how pissy Bellichik was feeling. He may have only wished to win by 14. Who knows. And that tackle of Pennington by Green looked totally clean... I think Green's a good guy and he still has my vote.

What I didn't expect was. To blow the last 3 minutes of play... or was it 4? Disscussing The Great American Healthcare Industrial Complex. I'd had a couple or few brews... not a care in the world, right? And here it looms, on my small and personal horizon... The Great American Health Care Industrial Complex.

So I'm sitting there, saying to this perfectly nice fellow...(poor guy... red hair? my family has a thing about redheads...) How I think that Americans are more suseptible to propoganda... because they are close to the end stages of capitalism. They are more use to being treated and talked about as consumers than as citizens. And how the oligarchs use this power of propoganda to tell people how great their healthcare system is.... even though they pay twice as much for a system that isn't even the best. (Americans don't get out much.)

We (Pats, the good guys) won the football game but can the war be won. My theory is, that the chink in the armor of the oligarchs is, healthcare. The poor fellow I was bombasting (great flirt, me), said Americans don't care and that they are not paying attention. I'm like, it's difficult with the static in the enviroment created by competing advertisements and products (what was it, the Bushies did not want to launch their new product "war" in August. Because you don't launch a new "product" "war" in August. ! ! ! Don't, with death from a "product" you get recall? RECALL!) (I WANT A RECALL!)

But. hunger might focus the masses. And the power, despite the attention entanglement of a thousand things demanding YOU, is in the masses. If we did not offer up our behinds, people like the product pushing Bushies would have nowhere to place their commanding triumphal boot clad toesies.)

So next to mass starvation is the obvious inequality in access to healthcare. I think there the apathy that the oligarchs are use to exploiting to their own benifit might become a bit, prickly. Yes, a coach like Bellichik would be helpful. And I have only a wet noodle for a sword. But people, a thousand wet noodles can really gum up the works.

If I were an idealist, I'd be... well... idealistic. As it is... I'm wondering if I can watch Patriots games in Canada. The whole thing makes me so tired. I don't want the oligarchs to win. I want lucidity, intelligence, equality... I want the good guys to win.... But people. We are way behind and there is no leader. At some other time I might go into what I think the genius of the Pats organization is. Its been said elsewhere. But here I want to say. what. What. WHAT! CARE people. that is what you need to do. Ask questions and care. Be a wet noodle too.

My Favorite Ancient Oriental Inebriate

Li Po. He's the Man:

"Past and present do not differ,
both must reach understanding
but I, though old, yet have not
reached understanding; "

Does he not rock?

"youngsters, what have you to say?
for you in your time will also
change to be old men of the hills."

(from My Wine Cup Beside) Honestly, I'd give my left fallopian tube to write like that.
And a poem of night, wine, desire and dancing...

"Alone and Drinking under the Moon"

"Amongst the flowers I
am alone with my pot of wine
drinking by myself; then lifting
my cup I asked the moon
to drink with me, its reflection
and mine in the wine cup, just
the three of us;"

Did E.D. read Li Po? Or did she channel him?
Some historian with finely matted brain cells would know. I don't. But this music needs to get out of the dust jackets and into the firmament.

"........I sit and sing
and it is as if the moon
accompanies me; then if I
dance, it is my shadow that
dances along with me;..."

There are few folks that can foil this mess of modern life.
My Li Po story. (Everyone has one about their favorite celebrity, right? And Li Po is The Man.) I went to the MFA in Boston, MA, and wandered into the Asian exhibit. On the wall was a glass case with a wire hanging down and at the end of it, a hook. The title of the work was portrait of Li Po, and I don't know whether it said "Ancient Oriental Inebriate" or whether my brainiac supplied that. But I stood there, gazing at this seemingly empty case, for awhile. Finally, defeated, I'm like, I do not understand. There are no vibes, no intuition or cognition happening.

Then looked down. At the bottom of the DISPLAY case was a note saying picture removed for photographing.
LI PO RULES!

Cats

Two kitty cat pictures. One is possibly a stray, possibly a survivor... Worrying about this kitter is not just a pastime. Still am hoping a wonderful individual shows up and claims her, or adopts her.

And here is a Kitty Pendant... for those of you that may think she doesn't look sufficiently catlike check out this website:
http://www.cfa.org/index.html
The spectrum of cats is amazing.