Ms. President

Recently I was thinking about what it would be like to be President of the United States of America. I reckon after the glow of winning the election which is expensive in every way, time money and needless pandering to the true powers that be, which must be like making a deal with the devil only plural, devils. It was kind of stressful first off the truth is we do have to decide soon who these Libyan rebels are whether it is prudent to support them after all we have spent billions training and financing the enemy in Afghanistan and we’ll be damned to do it again. Alternative fuel what a disaster because the entrenched oil barons have not created a base solid enough nor profitable enough to wean us off fossil fuels they continue to lobby to the public and Washington that we cannot get off oil until 2025 which is a long ways away and honestly we might not make it that far. When we all know Brazil which is an enormous country poised to become a first world mega force if it hasn’t already claimed this mantle. They are pretty successfully off the “oil” pipe if they can do why can’t we? If the truth were to be told it would amount to this fact. The industries that dominate our fuel sources are not ready yet to dominate clean energy and they will be damned if they will support new players in the industry. Washington supports this conspiracy and it sucks for us who will bear the brunt of not being prepared in our very near future. After watching “inside job” the documentary outlining our financial fiasco that was created by the very same souls who are still in charge of our national treasury, who are in change of our financial policy. I know deep in my heart that Obama is the same old crap we have always had in power. I said it, the great brown hope is not. Now it is very clear that an enormous revolutionary cataclysmic change is the only thing that will get America off the pipe. Being President isn’t easy because it’s a fake job really, the lobbyists and the corporate honchos really pull the levers of power , like the fictional wizard of oz…So although we hated having the last guy in office this guy is in many ways more dangerous because he is attractive , intelligent and seductive. Honestly if he was truly doing a great job someone very powerful would take him out. In other words we know real change is happening when attempts on his life occur, otherwise its same ol same old in Washington. We need change with a capital C and it’s not going to come anytime soon. America has become as haggard as a whore who is strung out on crack. We are frayed around the edges. The pimps who are in the shape of corporate America will not stop the degradation until it’s too late. Joseph Pulitzer warned of this exact outcome over a hundred years ago…and we are fulfilling his prophecy to the letter. We could learn a lot from Brazil’s energy program we could adopt it and that would help and ease and restore a bit of our integrity. America we deserve to be going in the right direction, instead of addicted to foreign oil consumers. We deserve to be smarter and to have real leadership, we have a long way to go but we definitely need change and what we have right now isn’t cutting it. If I were president I would not last long but the year I would have in office before “they” executed me would be filled with policy change and house cleaning that would mean something and I would gladly sacrifice my life for that change. We need complete deconstruction, than a rebuild starting with a distancing from corporate dominance that we will not see in my life time unless something enormously bad happens and I don’t wish this on us but I wouldn’t be too sad to see change come, soon. They say change marches forward no matter what so we can greet it with ease and acceptance as a gift or with stubborn resistance, disruption but it’s coming we can count on it.

Bad Religion

Someone sent me a book that I started to read about a tragic event that pushes a man to the brink only the book is all about Christian beliefs and religion. The book is so full of religious intentions that I had to jump to the end of the book and eventually tossed it in the trash with an overwhelming need to wash my hands. I want the hour and a half back spent reading this trash and manipulation I promise you that I have no problem with the concepts of divinity and broader perceptions but I have a HUGE issue with religion all religions bug me. Religions feel like manmade concepts designed to control the uninitiated and the lazy. Instead of being allowed to find the surreal incapable of true description ideology of the Divine with a capital D, I will not succumb to the small descriptions of cutesy countrified depictions of Christ and the God head as anything remotely common or simplistic like man/woman. It’s boring and insulting and manipulative. We are so in need of some fresh take on The God story this other stuff is BORING. I won’t name the book because it doesn’t deserve the publicity but it scares me to think it’s one of millions that are out there dumbing down the world. No wonder we have been losing our mind here in America in the name of Christian values, scary!

The Plan

Yesterday my sister Cheryl who is my connection to all things wonderful and Jewish and whose family adopted me when I was 11 years old, she informed me that one of our dearest friends is struggling with terminal cancer. It seems enormous and awful to be in that fight and I am certain it is although Cheryl explained that Ronette is graceful and not in pain although the disease is in her spine and migrating to her brain. It made me ask the question is she scared? Cheryl said at times she feels a panic and wonders if she accomplished enough in her short time here. Her daughter Dakota is doing her best to continue living and not staying bed side since she is in college. I was touched by that and not surprised because Ronette came from a family that had a tough time but her mother Gracie was selfless in her love and very generous to a fault and I see it here with Ronette. The other connection we share is our name everyone growing up would mistake our names she was called Rae Dawn and I was called Ronette. If she is scared I would not blame her because I wonder what we do feel when we are struggling with that disease and things are high-jacked, dreams are altered because the big C takes center stage. Apparently Ronette has not stopped fighting and is taking every step she can to stop the spread of the disease. It is my hope and wish that she is not in pain and that she is peaceful and that she allows herself to feel good because a life lived is important and the number of years we get is a bonus and if a life is long so be it or short so be it, I for one am not convinced it is a standard we can hold up or use to judge “longevity”.
I know we can’t prove this but I am certain after life is even more fun than here in the causal plane. I can take comfort in knowing Ronette knows this because like me she shares a fascination with all things spiritual and mystic. We are good when we allow our individual life to be appreciated (no matter what) to be graceful and generous and love filled. We are lost when we cannot see our way to gratitude or love when we hold ourselves apart from the great gift that is living and the great gift that is transitioning; it is all part and parcel of the plan.

2 Stroke

As I go through my closet and prepare a huge gift of old duds for goodwill it made me think about whether I do enough? With the melt down and devastation in Japan and the daily war or natural disasters / crisis the world over it made me wonder if I do enough. Not sure and in fact probably not enough to make a difference or adjust my karma or improve my mood. I know we don’t do good deeds just to improve our moods but I suspect it is a huge part of it. I have a friend who is single, makes a good living, is good looking and always and I mean always miserable nothing is good in his life and nothing makes him happy a real wet rag of a guy. I find it harder as the years tick by to feel anything for him other than sadness that he has missed life’s boat. Nothing holds us back except when something does like illness, handicap or mental disability. Otherwise “game on” even poverty can be shifted although I am working on that in my own way as I write this. Still if you live with clean air, water to drink and relative safety what is the “beef”? Then I stop and ponder what if the broader perspective includes suffering and death and everything in between? Who are we to say what is right in all of our trumped up altruism, who elected us to intrude and assist people? I ask because whatever they are suffering from if it isn’t pretty or fun and nice or comfortable in our own personal story of life then we charge ahead to change it to fit OUR story of good and nice. It is tough to hear about tragic events or horrid catastrophic occurrences. Still it boils down to the big GOD question and or the God posse that manages the cosmos and helps us only in dire need or if we threaten to change the Universe or its ways. In other words the “Adjustment Bureau “ , God head whatever we want to call it, “It” only steps in when our stuff spills into “other areas of the Universe“. So far that I can tell we live in a fairly ordered Universe and mess or chaos isn’t in the mix although it sure feels like it is. Sure argue that there is no higher group consciousness or God and it is ONLY Chaos. Go head both are impossible to prove with this 2 stroke awareness of mankind. I swear our thinking, feeling; capacity reminds me of the loud dirty noisy 2 stroke engine we have a long way to go before we can admire our abilities. Personally we are thick as stones when it comes to many things we should be embracing like clean energy and recycling and healthcare. Still in the cave if you ask me…Okay but back to the question of how much help and is it helpful and are we supposed to step in? I get confused and sad and fuzzy about what our brotherly duties are? How are we to know we are not meant to suffer? Byron Katie says we know because deep suffering exists therefore it is meant for us. Neat, tidy and irritating, true, I don’t know?

Lies from the Right!

Domestic terrorism is alive and well and it is perpetrated by non Muslim men who happen to be Neo Nazi and it was just last week in Spokane Washington at a Martin Luther King rally that an IED was discovered and the maker of such IED allegedly is a WHITE male. Said white male was seized with intent to mass murder. That Rep. Peter king and can hold a hearing regarding the threat of domestic Jihadism as if it happens here every day in every city stating that it is only “Muslim” extremists who partake in such crimes is a BIG FAT lie. The recent hearing was filled with untruths and not one FBI representative or agent was present or any other expert (homeland security state department official) was in attendance just shows how we have devolved into something akin to the worst domestic bigotry. Absolutely we should be on alert regarding terrorism both domestic and internationally but we must not blame an entire group of people in a general scathing long damaging way. That is un-American and that is exactly where these conservative watch dog bigots want to take us. Shame on every single one of you and “We the people of America” need to step back and shout “Not on our watch!” Intolerance should not be tolerated. of course I am just repeating what is on the news. Still spread the word we who care and want true freedom here at home ,we are under attack by liars like this.
I pray this last demonstration of racism begins a bigger dialogue and sounds a louder alarm for every one of us who is not a bigot and can tolerate real Muslims who are peacefully practicing their religion in safety in America. We need to stand up against this new and nasty rising past time of blame the Muslim.
It is getting scary here in America and we are under attack by a group of well meaning misguided kooks. Please get the facts right and please get a fair and balanced view (I know) of every issue not just one side!

Bring it!

It is a new phenomenon of teachers copping out and complaining that kids are unruly and they (the teachers) should not be penalized salary wise because their students in their classrooms are behind and under performing in tests. Yes, a huge majority of kids in America are failing and teachers want us to believe it is because they cannot handle the unruliness, that it is the kids. What a copout it makes me boil because no doubt many kids are rough and difficult but they are human and humans respond to us when we come from a n enlivened place and we love what we do and we speak a truth that is both connected to our hearts and our intellect and our souls in other words when we “bring it” it silences the masses and people stop and listen. On the other hand when we are speaking from a false place, a disconnected place, uninspired you bore the room. So the question is cameras in the classroom? Good idea, I do think merit pay is a great idea because if we as educators have a bully or two or three in a classroom than we the providers need to ask for help and bring attention to the kids who are causing disruption. On the other hand if you are phoning in your curriculum then you need to be out’ed and soon rather than later. Teachers who are phoning it in and being dead on their feet need to go. You teach a lack of integrity and children know when you are not there, when you are lazy, uninspired or just plain bad at teaching. Sack the crap teachers and overhaul America’s classrooms make learning a wondrous experience something life changing and better than computers or television.

Weaves

Exhausted and disgusted with the choices I have in the media. I want to do something about it. Just this morning as I am reading about the fascist comments made by a drunk fashionista (John Galliano) it occurs to me that if we women stepped together both ethnic and non ethnic we could improve the quality of every aspect of media. There are less than 10 % of women writing in Hollywood today less than 10% that is sick and sad. God forbid the scripts that are written by women are about women when I reckon 50% of the content focuses on males and their stories. So we get the double shaft as it were. One of the top rated shows in TV is written by a women of color but the focus of the ensemble is not the token African American character, in the cast it is the non ethnic women and men. Okay it is not just a color issue it is an age issue, yes we can stop and change the faces we see by boycotting media, all media. Magazines and television and movies unless you are not sick of seeing the same 4 faces on every cover; how many Jen Anniston versus Angelina and Brad covers can you tolerate? Do we need to see more of the Kardashians? Who I will say is a welcome change being half brown (Armenian). I give media that although its entertaining hearing them speak (Valley girl whine) still I feel like my brain shrinks every time I watch an episode of their show. Yup I feel dumb and broke who has that kind of cash? So really media, this is what we get? Someone should fire Ryan Seacrest because underneath that veneered smile lies evil…money grubbing Dick Clark evil. Dick Clark is a very bad man who dumped his wife and tortured his kids by being mean and cheap.It is all hearsay and my imagination, still I suspect this because I worked with his son who is a mess and I couldn’t blame him (alone) I think his father was awful to him, okay maybe its arm chair pop pyschology, guilty as charged. Still I think Ryan is cut from the same cloth, uber ambitious, so successful because he represents what, squeaky clean American values? He who has given us the Kardashians, evil, a blight on society? Maybe, okay I may be a bit tough on the Kardashian Kingdom, jealous? You bet, you know I have not watched OWN network yet I hear it’s good. Not sure they bought my series Mysterious Ways which is nice of them so I can’t be too critical. John Galliano spewing evil in a bar is the perfect starting point to fully illustrate the fascism in fashion Anna Wintour is still trying to convince us that she wants to use more ethnic women in her magazine when I suspect it may be Grace Coddington who is the artist who cares. They still claim that the magazine doesn’t sell when a women of color is on the cover. It may be true since that majority of us of color need to save our money to go to our weekly, 3000.00 hair appointments attaching expensive weaves (fake hair) so we can walk around with straight Asian hair sewed to our scalp so we can look more Anglo and less Afro. As we fry our eye balls inserting blue contact lenses so we can have the coveted light eye color. It has to be the Beyonce’ affect the straight hooker extensions, the black Barbie vibe, is it the humid weather in Houston that makes those Texans loathe the curl? I wonder…What we are if not sensitive creatures that are looking to matter to have an impact who long for love and a place in the proverbial sun. I long for interesting stories with fascinating people who are different and strange and lovable for the right reasons who do amazing things, simple ordinary things who contribute and yet are not boring or dull or swollen with (pc) smugness, intelligent content based on something wondrous like uniqueness and bravery. We watch a show called “Doc Marten” about a doctor in Britain on the BBC for some reason in that series no one is stunningly gorgeous or 20 still the show is fabulous and funny and touching. We need this here, good content because we are desperate in our home grown media we have hit a wall. We have sunk into a media wasteland and it is only getting worse.