LET US PREY
Empty yourself of everything
Let the mind rest at peace.
The ten thousand things rise and fall while the self watches them return.
They grow and flourish and then return to the source.
Returning to the source is stillness, which is the way of nature.
The way of nature is unchanging.
Knowing constancy is insight.
Not knowing constancy leads to disaster.
Knowing constancy, the mind is open.
With an open mind you will be open hearted.
Being open hearted, you will act royally.
Being royal you will attain the devine.
Being devine you will be at one with the Tao.
Being at one with the Tao is eternal.
And though the body dies, the Tao will never pass away.
Tao Te Ching (Ch-16)
Let us pray. How many thousands of times have I heard that phrase. You know I use to catch religious radio shows in the old days. By accident.
I will never forget the prelaw party my buddy Willard put together back in 1971. He happened to know three or four others who had been accepted to law school the only 'day' law school in the state with only 209 openings.
Someone brought liquid opium and Willard had the weed. There was beer and it was going to be heaven. His mommy was gone so he had the house to himself. A great stereo system.
Now I got to go back a little in order to put all this in proper context. I never liked weed, unless it was tobacco weed. MJ did nothing to me. Of course I look back now and the biggest problem I had in my life was noise. Too much noise in my head. I would try praying as a boy and later meditation. I could never, or almost never get rid of the noise.
People like Willard reacted to good THC and the noise went away. Did not work for me. All through college everybody had weed. Or so it seemed.
But Frank started dunking a couple joints in that opium and I am telling you, all my noise went away.
Later on I wanted to get into the act, not really being myself, and of course dumped the brackish liquid on the white carpeting. I do not think I saw much of Willard after that night.
At any rate, the others left earlier and I think there were just the three of us felons, and Willard decided to get us to other music. So he is turning the dial--we had dials in those days--and all of a sudden there was this deep southern voice coming out of the stereo:
Hold it. Hold it. Do not touch that dial. Folks three hippy commies smoking dope and preparing to sin even more have just tuned in.
Don't touch that dial boys.
I mean, we are laughing so hard. Uncontrollably. It was so funny.
See in those days, the radio programs would have these 'ministers' on the air doing magic tricks.
I see a woman in Cleveland who is receiving surgery tomorrow, surgery on her left knee. We must pray for her.
And sure enough some lady from Cleveland would call in and talk about her pending surgery.
It's like that seer who used to have his own show talking to ghosts in the audience.
Some lady took this so far that she speaks with your dead pets for you.
All kind of harmless really. It sells soap and everybody leaves happier thinking grandpa is feeling better in heaven and smoochy the dead poodle is getting in some good runs during the day.
Then Pat Robertson and all these fake shamans saw that they could make a lot of money. And they turned the whole damn show into a money-making machine and added the political angle and they were off and running. TAX FREE.And they took note of a Father Coughlin from the thirties.
Father Coughlin was doing ok in the early thirties. Supporting FDR and spreading the WORD over the radio waves.
Oh he would throw in some virulent garbage about how bad the Jews were. Not that far from the main stream Christians really.
But as Europe heated up, the priest would rant and rave about how great Hitler and Mussolini were. And well the FDR Administration kind of got pissed and that was the end of Coughlin. He died in '79 at the age of 88.
I have spoken before of Pat Robertson standing hand in hand with four or five people on his show praying that Supreme Court Justices would die. Heads bowed with that funny squint these idiots all have which is supposed to demonstrate to the audience that they are praying hard. I guess the harder the squint the harder the prayer and the more likely our lord and savior will hear them. It has to give a bunch of people in the audience headaches. There would be thousands and thousands of people squinting real hard to show the tv gods how intensely they were praying.
This is where the words LET US PRAY became LET US PREY.
Let us prey upon the mentally weak.
Let us prey upon the uneducated.
Let us prey upon the unread.
Let us prey upon the older richer folks who are afraid to die.
Let us prey upon those who hate minorities.
Let us prey upon those who hate Jews and Muslims and all religions that do not jive with their own.
Let us prey upon those who work for ten bucks an hour and think their pains are somehow related to illegal immigrants or commie atheists.
Let us prey upon those who are too afraid to walk down their own street because of gang activity.
Two things grabbed me today that brought all this to the fore.
First, it was THE RUSH. The rush was making bets concerning the death of Ted Kennedy:
Rush Limbaugh offered himself some kudos Wednesday for predicting in March that the health care bill wouldn't be passed before Ted Kennedy's death.
"Before it's all over, it'll be called the Ted Kennedy Memorial Health Care Bill," Limbaugh said at the time.
Indeed, with Kennedy's passing, Sen.
Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) has called for health care reform legislation to
be named in his honor. Limbaugh, who was criticized for his insensitivity
over the Kennedy remarks, is expressing vindication. "I predicted it, and
I caught all kinds of grief for it out there," he said http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/26/limbaugh-congratulates-hi_n_269711.html
Are not we all proud of rush? Is he not a true seer? I bet he made fifty bucks off of the janitor for that prediction.
This of course is not praying, it is simply bad taste. Who better to put a bad taste in your mouth or a rumbling in your bowels than rush? But is this bad faith on the part of rush any different from those wearing the collar of religion praying that god kill judges?
Rush does not do much praying and stays away from religious matters most of the time. He loves to grab onto it when he can use it, of course. Does anyone really believe that rush gives one goddamn about the termination of a pregnancy or the death of a baby for that matter?
But he kind of fits into this:
Let us prey. He has a lot in common with the new religious right for sure.
The second item that just blew my mind comes from our very own TPM:
Chris Broughton, the man who brought an assault rifle and a handgun to the Obama event in Arizona last week, attended a fiery anti-Obama sermon the day before the event, in which Pastor Steven Anderson said he was going to "pray for Barack Obama to die and go to hell", Anderson confirmed to TPMmuckraker today. Anderson also said Broughton had informed the pastor about his planned show of arms-bearing, but "he planned out the AR15 thing long before he heard that sermon," delivered Sunday August 16 at the fundamentalist Faithful World Baptist Church in Tempe, AZ.
This is the second example of the gun-toters at the Arizona Obama event tied to the violent fringes of American life. "I don't obey Barack Obama. And I'd like Barack Obama to melt like a snail tonight," Anderson said in the sermon.
The sermon, which was titled "Why I Hate Barack Obama" and also contained virulent anti-gay themes, continued: http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/pastor_of_gun-toter_at_obama_event_day_before_even.php?ref=fpa
First, how exactly do snails melt? It sure sounds painful do you not think?
Okay so what am I going to do today? Well, let's see. Go to church. Grab my assault rifle and my gun and holster and stand across the street from the President of the United States.
You might think, well at least church should calm one down a bit.
NO
The fascist is running the service and not paying taxes and getting everyone armed and getting everyone angry.
LET US PRAY that the true Christians win the fight against the false prophets and the false preyers.
LET US PRAY that the true Christians...
And how will you know a true Christian when you see one? What fact that we can absolutely know confirms the existence of a god? Mankind has been historically traumatized by our inability to know answers to these questions. Why we insist upon pursuing a question with no possible answer is absolutely circular and leads nowhere. The notion of intelligence within this framework is the definition of insanity.
The proof of the insanity is all who have died for a lack of proof and a glaring inability to acknowledge our logical and intuitive sense of right and wrong. Just ask yourself how many of our public officials have committed grevious wrongs but out of some misplaced and again circular idea of self righteousness causes them to refuse to step down.
August 28, 2009 5:36 AM | Reply | Permalink
You may be on to something. Perhaps the enthusiasts for the theory of "intelligent design" are guilty of overreaching. If they would modify their proposition to read "intelligent though lunatic design" they might garner them more supporters.
August 28, 2009 9:04 AM | Reply | Permalink
Proponents of ID are just another aspect of what I speak and are no more or less subject to our peculiar inabilty to recognize the questions have no objective answers. In a temporal way they probably face an additional handicap because mainstream science has our earth at around 13 billion years old I believe. So persons of the ID persuasion comingle unprovable notions of a supreme being with likely flawed science.
August 28, 2009 9:54 AM | Reply | Permalink
Yes. But I do recognize that there are people who wish to live their lives like Jesus preached (or as we think Jesus preached).
If you cannot beat them, join them? Gandhi lived in the midst of three 'great' religions, studied them all and attempted to use their power for good.
Like the poor, the wretched...the religious will always be with us I suppose.
August 28, 2009 10:52 AM | Reply | Permalink
One of the things that fascinates me about Buddhism is that the Buddha would never speak of any God. There is no book of revealed teachings certified by some perfect God. There are, however, the stories of individuals who have themselves achieved a status in which they are said to have understood the nature of the world, and who teach what they have learned. But you don't have to accept what they teach as true. They offer only a guide to your personal journey in search of the "Truth."
What you get is a set of teachings about what is wrong in the world and a set of behavioral and meditative techniques for overcoming those things that are wrong. As a guide, you are given stories of those who are said to be "Enlightened."
When I compare this to the teachings of Fundamentalist Christianity that the book they speak from is literally perfect and is God's word, haven't they made their book into a God to be worshiped? The Fundamentalists have not only demanded that we all accept that the stories of the Bible are literally true, but also that somehow the fundamentalist leaders speak for God and are themselves somehow purified by that agency role.
I cannot help but thing that as a philosophy and a way of thinking for the modern world, which world is based on large populations mostly living in cities, and on macroeconomics, rational thought and rational behavior, Buddhism has it all over the traditional thought demanded by Christianity.
August 28, 2009 3:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
Richard you just astound me.
Maybe I am off track, but I was born that way anyway. Plato and Aristotle will all of a sudden, speak of God. Not Gods, But God. Where in the hell did that come from? God as a concept. Not a theological discussion.
Of course 1300 years prior there was Akinatin (spelling up to the writer when you think about it)
This is an epiphany for me tonite. I do not know why.
But The Buddha (whom I think was the 6th in some sort of line as if Buddha is simply a crown)
My old friend the Tao does not speak of 'god'.
There is the way in a universe that is forever and ever...
I got the biggest kick out of the prayer beads that were present before Jesus ever lived, centuries before. And I grew up with the rosary.
No god is mentioned.
I knew this, but I did not KNOW this.
Richard you can comment here anytime you wish.
But remember, I told you, I think several times, just grab two or three of these comments, segway as the comics say, and post it so that the largest number can read it.
I get good numbers here, but we would get more in your blogs.....
EVERYBODY WINS
August 28, 2009 6:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
Have you read Karen Armstrong's "A history of God?" What she is describing is the historical development of the concept of God and its effect on civilization. She has an interesting personal history and seems to have a clue what is going on.
I think that what many call "God" is an effort to put a label on the inherent unity of the Universe. I have heard that the early Jews refused to use the name of God, which makes a lot of sense to me. Linguistics teaches that to create a word and apply it as a label to a concept or an object is to isolate and differentiate that concept or object from its surroundings. Does that make sense if the universe is all a single unity and there is nothing outside it? Can such an entity be given a label and then measured with human derived attributes?
We do the same linguistic trick with the mathematical concept of infinity, which is clearly beyond any level of human understanding. The mathematicians have learned to play with the label (they can recognize at least three different kinds of infinity), but what in god's name IS infinity?
I think the label "God" is largely a linguistic trick used by holy men to get the perfectionists who can't accept that there a things they will never know and can't know off the preacher's back. How do you maintain your image ofhaving all the answers when you can't answer one of the most basic religious questions? Unfortunately, it is a question rooted in the very limited ability of language itself to describe reality beyond a few limited variables. More recently it has become a justification for Priests who want to rule others, but need to attribute their right to make pronouncements and judgments on others to the some greater power than themselves.
That's my current thought anyway. I think the Gautama Buddha understood that trap and avoided it. So did the early Jews.
Come to think of it, the desert religions adopted a labeled "God" when it was required to create a government over a people. Buddhism did not become a state religion for several hundred years after the Buddha's death. That was when Ashoka created his Buddhist empire. By then the basic Buddhist doctrine was widely taught outside the Empire.
The Jews used Judaism as a way to hold their tribe together. Christianity in many ways was a creation from a collection of letters designed to hold Constantine's Roman Empire together. Islam was designed specifically to support the Muslim warriors as they conquered the surrounding neighbors. A clear, easily identifiable God was an essential to each of those religious ideologies. An understanding of human reality (the function of Buddhism) was a lot less important. That doesn't mean that the understanding function wasn't incorporated into the organization, but it certainly wasn't the main function for most of the populations involved.
If true, that would certainly explain the disparity in church attendance between the evangelical fundamentalist denominations and the older mainstream denominations here in America.
I am of course speculating far beyond anything I have read in Karen Armstrong. Don't blame her.
August 28, 2009 8:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
Interesting thoughts. I've often heard God referred to as the unknowable, but as you say, that doesn't help the preachers much. Speaking of infinity, I've always liked the surrealist painter, Francis Picabia's definition- "God is the shortest distance from zero to infinity."
August 28, 2009 8:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
That's neat.
There is probably a very different relationship between God and both mathematicians and artists than there is for the rest of us.
August 28, 2009 11:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ghandi is a good example.
He doesn't stand a chance though.
It all comes tumbling down with the Bush, C Street and our senatorial christians in the mix. These people have devised their own open ended interpretation of christianity. They 'preach' to the unsophisticated masses and launch the world into turmoil in the name of christianity.
I need to have it explained to me why so many christians aren't able to know the difference between a Bush and a Ghandi.
August 28, 2009 4:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
They cannot. That is the answer.
I read a couple of Gandhi's autobiographies and more than a couple of Winston's bios. Winston had about 50 hahahahah. But, of course, in the eyes of Winston no one could have been more important to write about. hahhahahaah
Gandhi's movie is just superb. Attenborough is a saint to me because of that film.
There is a movie called Young Winston. Another fine, fine movie.
Put the two together and there they both are in South Africa during the Boer Wars.
Winston despised the man in swaddling clothes. hahahahaha
For some reason it is sooooooo funny to me.
Both were students of history. Good students of history.
Both were from the highest caste.
I would love to write a book on both of them; that is contrast their lives in one book.
Ubermench can be translated into so many characters. Gandhi, was my ubermench.
He could see, read and recite truisms, prayers from...what at least five of the major religions.
He overcame the mundane. He surpassed the religious 'experts'. He overcame.
Transcend was the word decades ago.
Sorry. Just rambling.
August 28, 2009 4:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ramble on. Rambling on is the story of my life. Anyway, that’s what we’re here for. (See, I can ramble on with the best of 'em). Young Churchill /Gandhi would be a great read.
I watch Gandhi often. Even though it won Best Pic and other awards, it has never been critically recognized but I think will be better regarded eventually. You won’t see it on too many Greatest Films lists maybe because it’s a traditional though well-made biopic or because Attenborough didn’t have a large ouvré (as Tarantino says). But I think it matches some of David Lean’s best work (Lawrence of Arabia, Bridge on the River Kwai, Oliver Twist) and is similar to Lawrence- bio-history, epic and universal, with depth but minus the “action,” I guess. And Ben Kingsley is a great actor, isn’t he?
August 29, 2009 1:14 AM | Reply | Permalink
I don't think that the masses are all that unsophisticated. What they are is afraid of loss of what they consider important because of all of the social changes that are going on. There really is a lot less social stability than there was when I grew up in the 50's, and all indications are that it's get worse, not better. Then the wealthy upper classes also fear losing their wealth and status.
The religious leaders are the prime source of traditional teachings and are a major source of social stability. So is the Rule of Law and the justice system, but it's a more modern social invention than religion.
What I see is the religious leaders allying themselves with the wealthy upper classes to enforce social stability. They sell this to the frightened masses who otherwise don't know where things are going for themselves and especially for their children.
The problem I see is a lot like Obama's defense from the attacks on change in the basic health care system. There is no Obama plan yet,so what future social state does Obama have to sell?
It makes the "Just say No!" campaign very powerful. The same is true when pushing for civil rights and for diversity. The business people have developed a really sophisticated propaganda system that justifies rapid change in the economy. That justification is taught in every economics course, every finance course and spread by the business media everywhere. It in fact is a core teaching of classical liberalism.
It is also taught ahistorically. Politics is not supposed to be allowed to enter economic decisions, and so political problems with those decisions are ignored. They also teach that the opposing views are Socialism and Communism and are to be abhorred because of the violence by unions in labor disputes (not a lot of widely read history on the management violence, is there) and especially on the authoritarian nature of the USSR after WW I. Socialism is really the inclusion of political reality with economic reality. Communism adds the political teachings of Lenin and was very popular following the devastation of WW I and the Russian Civil War. But it led directly to Stalin who used the fear of social instability to create his very nasty ideological-based dictatorship. Interestingly the ideological conservatives happily use a lot of Lenin's teachings.
I don't think that the masses are all that unsophisticated. I just think that the forces for maintaining the status quo have most of the social power until things get really bad.
August 28, 2009 5:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
I disagree. The Bush / republican noise machine duped the conuntry on Iraq and the same machine has done it again on healthcare. The fear you refer to is a manufactured one based upon lies that are easily disproved. The people have been suckered time and again in a most reprehensible and even criminal way. And I say criminal because we have U.S. senators who knowingly support these disinformation campaigns. Those same senators then turn around and echo the public sentiment they created. This is a complete and illicit scam run on the people to convince them to do something that is not in their interest. And those running the scam have taken advantage of the fact that the masses can't differentiate between the truth and a lie. Even though that difference is readily known. In the overall this is immensely and almost purely criminal in nature. And produces the inevitable outcome.
August 28, 2009 10:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'll agree that the fear that is being stoked for political reasons is based on lies and propaganda. But that doesn't mean that the fear of the massive social changes isn't real. It's that underlying fear that the lies are designed to exploit.
The fear of social change is based on traditional thinking which is typical of rural societies and slowly changing societies. People who think traditionally are threatened by people who live in modern society and who use modern modes of thinking. That's the essential difference between conservatives and liberals. A lot of people react angrily at those who they are afraid of, which is in my opinion the source of much of the conservative anger aimed at liberals in power.
The thing is that when society is changing rapidly, a lot of frightened people who can't successfully deal with the changes look for solutions or scapegoats and find traditional ways of acting and thinking. The Bush/Republican noise machine is designed to take advantage of this normal reaction. It is a numbers game for conservatives, of course. It keeps the base and works on uncommitted independents.
Even the blatant lies work at the emotional levels on this. How effectively they will work when trying to get a majority of the voters is another question. But right now the conservatives have no other option since the biggest change threatening everyone is the economic disaster, and it is pretty well generally accepted now that Bush and the conservatives created this disaster.
Another point. People are socialized into traditional ways of thinking, not educated. Education is a modern invention that became necessary to support the jobs created by the industrial revolution. Our modern form of classroom education is wildly different from the system of tutors and apprenticeships that existed before the industrial revolution.
People who work in socialized traditional environments include agricultural workers, bankers and (interestingly) the top managers in large organizations. All of these are controlled by their socialization. In modern organizations below the top level the two most common forms of control are either reward by the quality and amount of output or close supervision of the methods of production. For examples, the output control is being used when pay is for piecework or on commission. Supervision and observation is the form of control used on non-commissioned sales clerks or production line workers.
In my opinion our current political conflict is between people who think traditionally (Rural elites, wealthy families defending their family wealth, religious leaders, and similar people with a lot to lose from change) and people who think rationally in the modern ways and tend to reject traditional opposition to change. Most people who live in large cities and are not first generation off the farm think in modern rational ways. The US Senate is a very traditional institution, while the House is much more modern. It's the same relationship as existed between the British Parliament and the House of Lords before the parliament took control of the government and downgraded the Lords.
August 28, 2009 11:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
The fear is the fear of the perpetrators. It is not the fear of the nation. We are a brave nation and a brave people. We have an immense strength that is and has been betrayed. We are capable of vast achievement but that potential is undermined by some very shortsighted thinking.
We can only advance as a society by accommodating change. Wealth holders mistakenly underestimate what this country is capable of and impede opportunity that would be to their advantage. They have an aversion to risk that is more about retention of power and control than advancing their own interests. They choose instead obtainment of wealth through illicit or manipulative means and restrict empowerment of the masses. The basis for this is selfishness and greed. This mechanism leads to a general decline and ultimately failure of the society. This is exactly where we've been headed for quite some time. Every bit of this is self evident and easily known by taking a measure of the declines of the general populace. This is a huge betrayal that is sure to end badly.
August 29, 2009 12:49 AM | Reply | Permalink
I think that a lot of wealth holders who inherited their wealth Wealth don't care what this country is capable of. As far as they are concerned they are surrounded by people who covet what they have.
As I have said before, hatred is based in fear of loss. Those who inherited their wealth often do not have the talent to obtain it. Especially when it was originally based on luck or someone being in the right place at the right time as is so often the case. The inheritors often feel threatened and go into protective mode. Then they use their wealth to protect themselves and their wealth. Richard Mellon Scaife comes to mind.
I think that people with wealth often make one of two possible errors. Either they think they ARE the nation, or they think they are besieged by the nation. Neither is close to reality in my opinion. But they act on it as if it were.
Neither fantasy considers the strengths of the nation in any degree, although the fantasy that they ARE the nation might be a bit of a way to view how strong this nation is.
Oddly, Warren Buffet does not appear to make either error of judgment. I don't know enough about Bill Gates to be sure but maybe he doesn't either. I would expect their children who inherit their wealth to be much more defensive.
Other than (possibly) those exceptions, I think that retention of power and control is the main focus of most of the very wealthy. They see it (in my view) as the essence of protecting their interests. Such people in my opinion fund a lot of the conservative movement. Want to know who they are? Look at the big funders of such conservative organizations as the American Enterprise Institute and the Discovery Institute.
Unfortunately they don't in my opinion also recognize that their power and control is given to them by the society in which they live and to which they owe an obligation. That's what the lower taxes on the wealthy movement is all about. But the rest of us permit them their privileged position. They need to pay for that privilege. They just don't want to pay the dues of the club they have joined. Conservatism is their way of fighting the bill collectors.
August 29, 2009 11:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
Taxes have made an inconsistent turn over the years that ignores income distribution. It seems to me where the bigger percentage of national income has increasingly been pushed up the income scale that decreasing taxes on those in the top 5 or 10 percentile, at least in numeric terms, doesn't make sense. We have a similar odd condition where corporations, which are nominally taxed at 35%, don't pay near that percentage as a portion of net profit. It is also troublesome that corporations blow an awful lot of money in a reckless way and get to write it off. The situation promotes a lack of fiscal discipline. This same idea extends across some other boundaries and is overflowing with conflict. Corporations toss tons of money into pacs or other vehicles but have shareholders who are average citizens with a 401k who are actually harmed by the political goals sought by the contributions. This is especially true of the giant corporations in the financial sector which spend a ton of their customers money seeking legislative goals that are diadvantageous to their customers. Neither the companies or government seem to care one bit how upside down this arrangement has become. It cannot possibly be more evident how this works against the national interests and favors the narrow interests of the corporations. Businesses have to make money to remain in business but where they actively seek a circumstance in the political arena that makes the legislative contest moot we have a big problem. The current healthcare contest is a perfect example of the kind of one sided affair that results from the absurdly evolved scheme. The same is true for the financial bailouts where the industry basically called all the shots because of the one sided and complete bias in the management and oversight of the industry.
This is an entirely absurd state of affairs all the way. It is, without question, ethically corrupt, if not legally so. Nobody in their right mind would actually enter into these kinds of business arrangements voluntarily. Which is exactly why it is corrupt. Our lawmakers have signed taxpayers onto these arrangements which in no way indicate that taxpayer interests were accommodated in any way.
August 30, 2009 1:38 AM | Reply | Permalink
"By their deeds, you will know them."
"Test the spirits"
Those are two axioms I employ when I ask myself that question, "Who is a true Christian?" I also allow the possibility that there are good souls who do not self-refer as Christians. For me, when I hear someone advertise their Christianity, I am immediately suspicious, and more often then not, I believe I am right. There are exceptions. I wish there were not so many.
Ley us PREY! How do they prey? Deceit and distraction. First, it has to do with being dishonest. Not pointing responsibility at the people who bring evil to the world, and second, by distraction, pointing to God from Whom to seek help, which is about not taking responsibility for helping one's self. Now, there are those who pray and seek their own help. They are the exceptions of whom I speak. As for whom bring evil, do not infer that these are from one group or another. In the spirit of responsibility, even though one was Republican, it is not the title that brings evil, it is the deeds, by their deeds we will know them, test the spirits
August 28, 2009 12:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
By their deeds Gregor. You got that right!!!!
August 28, 2009 12:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
I thought of writing a separate post complimenting your work here at TPM but in reality I have done that several times before. So I will just make a remark here as a comment. It is more personal this way and my remark is personal.
You have been thinking all of your life which is as wise a Tao as there is. “The unconsidered life is not worth living” as that old Greek bi-sexual used to say. Those who read you who are younger need to understand that the rich garden of your mind is the result of a lifetime of careful and not so careful cultivation. Like marketplace shoppers we readers pick and choose what we want – a fat tomato here and a spicy onion there and a clutch of humble potatoes – the pommes du terre. We give little thought to the many hours of skilled tending and unskilled labor that places this largess before us. This is a failing. Similarly we should occasionally give a thought to the lifetime of considerations that has resulted in the largess that is your writing these days. So in that spirit and in the spirit of this post let me paraphrase an old benediction that dates from the time before your beloved Arthur:
Bless us Old Darling
And these thy gifts
Which we are about to receive
From thy bounty through Jesus Christ (blesses himself)
Our Lord, Amen
August 28, 2009 8:28 AM | Reply | Permalink
Through thy bounty.
I get the intense 'feelings' of Lenin sometimes. Let us get rid of it all. What is the 'net benefit' of religion anyway?
You know, maybe its Q's line. Maybe a prayer represents five minutes of our time, wishing the other person well.
August 28, 2009 11:18 AM | Reply | Permalink
Religion is a way, I think, that we as individuals come together in a group to better understand the traditions that make our life hold meaning.
You don't get that out of a book. You get that meaning by interacting with others. And the tradition needs to be presented by a person, not by some abstract representation of what someone else once thought the tradition was. It's the same way we learned everything that mattered to us as small children. Those symbolic interactions (verbal, written, music, etc.) with others are how we as humans each create the "self."
Forgive me if this seems too technical. This just occurred to me as I read your question, one I have asked since I quit going to church in the 70's. I just took a six-week course of Intro to sociology, and the portion that described how we create meaning in our lives has fascinated me.
A whole lot of stuff that I have long wondered about is suddenly becoming clear to me from this sociology course. This, together with your Tao Te Ching readings and the comments and observations that result from your posts, creates some revealing interconnections of meaning. By the way, apparently there are a lot of studies in computer-mediated communication that show that email and stuff adds to the "self"-building of human symbolic interaction.
August 28, 2009 4:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
Larry, I have had responses; I have had help; I have had epiphanies. Right here. I just cannot encapsulate 10 years of failure.
But I have five close, close friends here and you are one of them.
You know why?
I told Gregor once, I had spent thirty years trying to talk to people, to at least share what I was thinking.
I swear, I have been snubbed my entire life. I never wrote it out like this of course for nigh on to a year.
And I told Gregor, MY GOD YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT I AM TRYING TO SAY.
It was at times like speaking Chinese (Mandarin?) in a hall filled with people from Kansas.
I wrote this post at 4 am or whatever. There are twenty five people here who know exactly what I was trying to say, attempting to communicate. This is HEAVEN.
If I died and went to heaven I would have an audience like this.
But Larry, YOU REALLY KNOW WHAT I AM ATTEMPTING TO SAY.
Maybe its similar background, or education, or family history, or what the hell. I do not care.
You grasped my Arthur series. Larry I had friends like Flower who would wake up in the morning and look to see if I had another chapter. When I bundled the Arthurs together, I noticed five or six or seven recommendations for huge stretches of time. I would run to the chatroom and try to sell it so I could keep it going.
Larry your praise at once embarrasses me and at the same time just elates me, at a time in life where there has not been much elation.
Frankly I think you as well as Q, are brighter than I am.
Oh did you see Strato playing with Shakespeare today? hahahah just wonderful.
At any rate, just as I am ready to really cash in my chips....
You give me a push.
David Seaton will show up, once in awhile when he is not computer free in some recreation center in Spain...He will put me down. And I do not know why. When I ask him he demurs.
At any rate, I have never, in my entire life, recieved the kind of positive reinforcement I get from you.
And you are a great writer. hahahhaha
Amazing grace I guess.
Thank you.
How in the hell do you repay something like this?
I do not know.
You never ask for a damn thing.
August 28, 2009 6:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
Dickday,
You just described my life, also. When I was a PhD student I occasionally had some epiphanies, but no one there seemed to understand why I was excited about some of the ideas we were talking about. I've given up looking for people to talk to who seem even marginally interested in what I have to say.
August 28, 2009 8:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
The great short story by Mark Twain, called "The War Prayer" is really about just this sort of thing.
Prayer should be about aligning one's thoughts and will with God.
Talk Radio's Christian followers fail to note that much of the content on these shows is nothing but a broadcast version of the sin known as "ill speaking."
From the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said that speaking ill about others was a dangerous bit of sinful behavior: "You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.' But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, 'Raca,' is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell."
August 28, 2009 9:02 AM | Reply | Permalink
Ill speaking. What a curious phrase Strykur.
Matthews says he refuses to 'speculate' about what is in the heart of others.
But when I see Pat Robertson speaking of how evil it would be to tax off shore corporations....
I mean I see evil in his soul.
August 28, 2009 11:05 AM | Reply | Permalink
I think this is one of your best, Dickon. Highly rec'd.
August 28, 2009 9:53 AM | Reply | Permalink
Oh thank you Sweetheart. You have a happy Friday with no undue pain and strife.
August 28, 2009 10:58 AM | Reply | Permalink
The late Frank Zappa, while a living bundle of contradictions in many of his views, had one good line that fits well here:
"Tax the churches. Tax the businesses owned by the churches."
And as for Limbaugh, Robertson, and their sorry malevolent ilk, I can cast my memory back to where I had closer contact with the local police and fire departments, including a stint riding night patrol with a Thomas Merton-reading street cop. (Try getting quickly out of the right front seat of a squad with a camera and a 15-pound battery belt on sometime!)
And I remember a sign in the police HQ...
"Some people are alive simply because it is illegal to kill them."
August 28, 2009 10:09 AM | Reply | Permalink
"Some people are alive simply because it is illegal to kill them."
I just woke up Grouch. Everything is blurry even though I was dead ass sober last night. hahahahah
I can respond to you first because of this line. I do not care about context. This is one of the greatest lines I ever read. hahhaa
Cheney's screwed up scowl. Pat Robertson's impersonation of Alfred E. Newman. Not today certainly, but If you don't, I will.
That is, an entire blog has to be done on this line. hhahahaha
August 28, 2009 10:40 AM | Reply | Permalink
Ya know, DD, there are a very few places in this society where the humor found is as dark as humanly imaginable:
Police and fire stations;
Emergency rooms;
Newsrooms;
The infantry.
August 28, 2009 11:20 AM | Reply | Permalink
dd,
For me, this post truly showcases how too many have indeed engaged in twisting and manipulating truth and agendas in the name of Christian faith, when in reality they are only 'preying' upon the masses (no pun intended!).
Sadly, the majority of their 'followers' elect to be ignorant of their chosen leaders true vocation.
Their preaching has nothing to do with love, kindness and generosity of spirit - golden rule -only about distortion, personal gain and hoarding their own pieces of silver.
While you have indeed blessed us with some terrific posts - this is, as Lis noted, one of your best. I think it would be wise for us to have a site that is 'The Best Of dd' posts, as they will always be relevant and reminders of what has been, is and unless we do better, will be in our world. But, just as important, what could be if we pay attention and learn our lessons!
Brilliant post and I fear, one that is needed as a reminder to all of many things - some good and some evil.
Thank you.
Rec'd.
August 28, 2009 10:55 AM | Reply | Permalink
Oh Auntie, such sweet words. But I am the lowliest of the low, really.
But I know this. We seem barraged by terrible messages, every day, every blog site, every news show.
But there are good people. Good Christian people. Good people of other faiths.
They seem to be drowned out today.
Remember the '60's? REmember the preachers who preached love, charity?
August 28, 2009 11:11 AM | Reply | Permalink
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_xj6Ymz9ak
This film is dedicated to the real victims of war, hatred and unforgiving hearts: Children.
This serves as but a part of my prayer for those who have suffered at places such as Columbine, Africa, Virginia Tech, Chechnya and other war-torn, hate filled places. Though we may not be able to cause the wars abroad to cease, we can cause the wars within our hearts and homes to end. Forgive and love others. Truly these small and simple steps can eventually cause great and powerful strides in the world.
"The Prayer of the Children" by Kurt Bestor and Sam Cardon
Can you hear the prayer of the children?
On bended knee, in the shadow of an unknown room
Empty eyes with no more tears to cry
Turning heavenward toward the light
Crying jesus, help me
To see the morning light-of one more day
But if i should die before i wake,
I pray my soul to take
Can you feel the hearts of the children?
Aching for home, for something of their very own
Reaching hands, with nothing to hold on to,
But hope for a better day a better day
Crying jesus, help me
To feel the love again in my own land
But if unknown roads lead away from home,
Give me loving arms, away from harm
Can you hear the voice of the children?
Softly pleading for silence in a shattered world?
Angry guns preach a gospel full of hate,
Blood of the innocent on their hands
Crying jesus, help me
To feel the sun again upon my face,
For when darkness clears i know you're near,
Bringing peace again
Dali cujete sve djecje molitive?
(croatian translation:
'can you hear all the children's prayers?')
Can you hear the prayer of the children?
August 28, 2009 11:00 AM | Reply | Permalink
Well, jonnieo, i was going to commnet. Think i need to go weep for a bit first.
"angry guns preach a gospel full of hate."
and so much now, here, among US:
"angry gospel full of hate preaches guns."
bye for now.
August 28, 2009 11:19 AM | Reply | Permalink
What a beautiful song, poem.
Happy Friday Wendy!!!
August 28, 2009 11:29 AM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks, dick. How shall we know them? I am not religious, I don't even know if I believe in God in the way others say they do. But I try to live like there is a god; I do like to say prayers. I liked them best in sweat lodge, but that avenue is closed to me now physically. In sweat lodge you often sing your prayers. My husband taught me that in general the best prayers are in gratitude, and I like that.
But of all the prayers I ever heard about is this: (paraphrased)
"I don't know if what I do pleases you, God; but I think that it must please you that I wish so much to do so."
August 28, 2009 1:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
Intent must matter with the almighty. sweet prayer Wendy.
August 28, 2009 2:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'd think heart matters, and words, either comforting and inspirational, or inflammatory and hateful: I consider those are DEEDS, really.
Thanks for the wishes.
Now will y'all go get in the CONTEST I put up in Recent Reader Posts?? Have an itty-bitty teeny tiny modicum of fun? Take a break?
That sucker is gonna disappear in short order if no one plays!
August 28, 2009 5:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
I am listening to your 'link' while I ponder the poem.
Oh, jonnie, not to cheapen this message, but I must render unto you the Dayly Line of the Day Award for this TPMCafe Site, given to all of you from all of me for this gem:
"Though we may not be able to cause the wars abroad to cease, we can cause the wars within our hearts and homes to end. Forgive and love others. Truly these small and simple steps can eventually cause great and powerful strides in the world"
August 28, 2009 11:27 AM | Reply | Permalink
Nice, DD.
Father Coughlin, I think he started out tapping a leftist/populist vein and after initially supporting him, railed against FDR because he thought the New Deal programs didn't go far enough. I don't know, I can't imagine Pat Robertson getting further to the right than the neo-cons. Anyway, I always put Coughlin in the same category as Huey Long; rabble-rousers exploiting the Depression for their own ends.
P.S. For those unfamiliar with it, here is the complete text of Mark Twain's The War Prayer:
http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_War_Prayer
The War Prayer gained (or regained) popularity when I was in college in the late 60's, due to the anti-war movement. It also made for a very dramatic reading in Speech contests.
August 28, 2009 1:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thank you. I have it Mr. Smith in one of five volumes of Twain's essays and short stories. But this is easier.
Here is something you can listen to while you read it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2kk-v7NLr4
August 28, 2009 2:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
"You cannot petition the Lord with prayer."---Jim Morrison
I understand the "noise in the head" thing completely. I cannot sustain a prayer longer than saying: "HELP!"
My latest prayer consists of: "C'mon! I need help here! Time to god up!"
August 28, 2009 1:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
I say that prayer often enough Jan. hahahaaha
But like I said somewhere above, we need to take five minutes sometimes and wish the other person well.
And I sure wish you well.
Oh and if you have not, catch Debbiedoesnothing's blog today. Truly heartfelt like your posts and comments.
August 28, 2009 2:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
All I gotta say is, Amen!
August 28, 2009 2:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
Amen Forty-niner. Thanks.
August 28, 2009 2:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
Another great post, Dickday
I grew up as an Episcopalian in Texas surrounded by fervent Baptists and Methodists, and my main reaction was to develop an utter disgust for religious evangelists. They are invariably a mixture of fool and con-man. Only the mixture varies. The better known ones represent the successful con-men.
I also graduated from high school in the same class as the Rock-Blues artist Johnny Winter and Paige Patterson, a Southern Baptist preacher who joined with Texas Judge Paul Pressler and went on to lead the conservative faction of the Southern Baptists to take over the denomination in the 1970's.
That conservative takeover of the Southern Baptist Church coincided with the growth of the religious TV under Pat Robertson. There were also the Radio Evangelists. The radio evangelist I best remember was Herbert W. Armstrong and his "Worldwide Church of God." If you were driving after midnight in the East Texas piney woods with nothing but an AM radio for company, the choices were Wolfman Jack out of Mexico and Armstrong with his biblical prophesies. They seemed to be everywhere.
Yeah. Everywhere. When the religious right joined the anti-Civil Rights Movement and turned political they became the driving force in politics that made the Republicans competitive with the Democrats in Texas. (This is my impression, not something I have closely studied.) When Bush defeated the popular Ann Richards for Texas governor and the Republicans swept all the state-wide elected offices in 1994, it was Karl Rove's ability to combine the political right and religious right that made it work.
Bush was the leader symbol to both groups. Those political and religious leaders are still in control here with Texas governor Rick Perry as their political standard bearer. Perry is running for an unprecedented third four-year term in 2010.
Somewhere the political religious right went national. I think that was partly the result of the development of radio and TV religious empires. The right-wing political radio exemplified by Limbaugh took advantage of a market shift from AM to FM and the political deregulation of Carter/Reagan to join the religious media but it is only a pale political reflection of the religious media empires. Bush's 2000 election was one major result the merger of conservative fundamentalist evangelical religion and right wing politics.
Today's Republican Party is an anti-modernist movement that is organized by the right-wing political leaders, leaders of centralized media carrying right-wing propaganda for money, and it's coordinated by right-wing religious leaders who have their organizing teleconferences and spread the talking points to their congregations. The whole movement feeds on fear of social change. Its' target market is people who are frightened by the rapid social changes that have occurred in America since the Civil Rights Movement, the birth control pill and Television have totally changed the social landscape.One thing the political conservatives do not understand, though, is that America is not a right-wing nation. It's a modern nation built on Enlightenment-derived rational political principles built into the Constitution, and the society is rapidly growing more modern in its thinking.
The social forces driving the various forms of anti-modernism to join forces politically are growing rapidly. That's what Obama's election as President proved. The reactionary forces are losing ground rapidly and it's driving them to distraction.
Dickday, your post and the intelligent comments to it here led me to make these connections. They seem pretty clear to me, but I have no doubt missed a great deal that was important. But I love to get connections like this that seem to explain what is going on. So this is thrown out here for criticism and comment. What have I got wrong? Besides the spelling, of course.
August 28, 2009 2:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
I dont see anything wrong in this essay Richard.
It was actually Armstrong's kid who was yelling at us dope smoking hippies. You know the one who was caught with his pants down in a brothel or some such thing and ultimately thrown out of the church by daddy.
I think it was about the time Jimmy Swaggert was caught taking pix of girls with their pants down when he was supposed to be jogging. hahahahaha
But a little rub rub is nothing compared to the damage these non tax paying demagogues do everyday.
You know your essay is so good, but you do these great and long and well thought out paragraphs.
REally revealing.
Thank you.
August 28, 2009 2:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
It occurs to me that I don't yet feel secure in posting them to stand on their own as you do here. I feel the need to place them in the context in which the thought occurred to me and I worked it out in pixels.
Training wheels?
August 28, 2009 3:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
Richard, you should do this kind of thing as stand-alone pieces. It's really good. A lot to think about...
August 28, 2009 4:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks. I am trying to manage my time and my organization so that I can do that. But a lot of my inspiration and understanding comes from right here, and I work out the thinking as I write.
And then I want to go ahead and see the next thing one of you guys writes, with inspires more thinking and writing. This is a very very bright, well-read and caring group, you know. I'm just hoping that I can keep up in a few areas.
And I do have my insecurities. I have dropped college courses to avoid writing a paper. Five years of blogging with no grading and few standards have given me a bit more confidence. Unfortunately, it has also permitted me to be more verbose.
So you guys suffer with it.
August 28, 2009 5:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
Richard, though I love to read, I had hardly written anything more complicated than a grocery list in my almost fifty years until I enrolled in college some few years back and "had" to write. It was odd finding myself loving something I had never paid much attention to. Like anything else, the more you do it, the greater facility with it and the less strain and stress accompany it. The Café is a good place to do that. Writing is not only liberating and gratifying creatively; it’s a great way to contemplate, out loud, so to speak. It's a great way to learn.
August 28, 2009 7:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
After my divorce I started hitting the bars and trying to meet women. I am shy with women, but I found out that if I sat and wrote poetry, some of the more intelligent women would often ask what I was doing. Even very bad poetry, which is all I was capable of. (Remember Richard Brautigan? Try what he did sometime.) It worked with girl bands, and especially well in topless clubs, and was a lot cheaper than buying the girls drinks.
Of course, the transition to any kind of relationship outside the bar never worked, but what the Hell.
August 28, 2009 8:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
:)
August 28, 2009 8:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
Interesting background info, Richard. Don't forget Ralph Reed and gang, too. (BTW, do you remember an elderly female televangelist broadcast in No. Texas in mid-'70s. She was extremely pale, thin and sallow; almost an image of death. May have had a partner. I just vaguely remember her hellfire sermons).
August 28, 2009 5:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
Quite right. How could I have forgotten Ralph Reed, Jerry Falwell and the Christian Coalition? Their alliance with the Reagan conservatives in the mid 80's was critical to the rise of the conservative movement.
I was interested to read that the Christian Coalition had gotten so little out of the deal that they pretty much abandoned politics in the 90's. Has anyone written about the rise of political coordination of the pastors of the mega churches? That would be an interesting read. I'd also be interested in how those two groups coordinate with the "Family" and that cult. Combine that with some key biographies and tie it into the Bush administration and someone has a really good book to write.
Don't recall the televangelist you speak of. I was in New Orleans and then Houston throughout the 70's, so I never saw her. But then too, I avoided televangelists until they became politically significant. Beyond the occasional titillating scandal, of course. I could never figure out what the value was of the snake oil they were selling. That's one reason I am so surprised to begin to understand it now.
That might be another interesting book. The rise of televangelism, the different doctrines being preached, and again, some key biographies. It's probably already out there somewhere.
August 28, 2009 7:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
Isn't there a huge Church in California that's basically a "drive-in" with a jumbotron screen? Maybe I'm imagining that, but it seems so surreal that people would worship that way. Still, I don't think the televangelism is new, just the medium.
We have cycled through several Great Awakenings in our history accompanied by large masses attending fire and brimstone tent revivals. Mass media made it easier to spread the Word, but there is something about TV that mesmerizes. Television rays seem to lobotomize viewers. And I'd bet many preachers feel called because they have the gift of gab.
I take this kind of personally because my grandmother, bright but naive in many ways, who lived in government projects and couldn't always afford her medications would send money to these cons regularly. Oral Roberts used to "advertise" his healing hand. For sending in $40 an ailing believer would receive a tracing of Pastor Robert's hand, which if placed over their arthritic knees, for example, would instantly heal them. Why is that not fraud or medical malpractice?
August 28, 2009 7:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
Very informative analysis, Richard, and a wonderful adjunct to dickday's terrific work.
Thank you
August 28, 2009 6:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks Tao. I guess we need to give Richard some confidence. hahahaha
But the Tao just tells you and me to keep on truckin. We aint afraid of embarrassment.
WE EMBRACE IT.
And then the fear is gone.
August 28, 2009 6:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
I am but a straw dog
:)
August 28, 2009 7:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
I am but a humble student here.
Thank you.
August 28, 2009 8:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
I sat up one Sunday morning, still half asleep, to find I’d left the TV on. Church services were on, broadcast down here out of Houston from what I think is the largest church in the country (called the Church of the Almighty (Dollar) or some such). This preacher, who looks and sounds like an anorexic Bob Saget, was screeching, “Pray with us, pray for good fortune.” So I prayed and squinted with all my concentration, and sure enough, the channel changed. The TV remote was on the other side of the room, so I knew it was a miracle! Unfortunately, Chris Mathews was doing the screeching now. Again I squinted as hard as I could, even harder, and damn if Tweety’s head didn’t explode. I felt washed in the blood of the lamb. Then I woke up.
Great post, DD. Actually, this church doesn't directly advocate praying for wealth, bt they used to and still press that message subtly. The mega-churches that began with televangilism- Robertson, Jim Baker, Oral Roberts, and others who prey on the lambs in their flock do not represent Christianity. I think decent, practicing Christians probably outnumber the ones duped by these Elmer Gantrys, but would never denounce fellow Christians.
August 28, 2009 2:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
Don, there are good, honorable, charitable Christians in this country.
This is all a damnable shame.
I have met too many good Christians here to believe anything else.
I love the Tao I have not read for decades. But after 90 dyas so so, I could just as easily gone to Proverbs or Psalms. Christians in this country sure do love the Hebrew texts, just not the Hebrews themselves. hahahaha
August 28, 2009 3:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
Absolutely, I know many; really great people. It does seem more egregious that the Christ of love and charity would be perverted for some charlatan's financial or political self interest.
You should do some on Psalms. Just don't do Revelation (that was for the Bush era)!
August 28, 2009 4:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
Don't forget Billy Sunday.
August 28, 2009 3:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
Chicken you got me pondering. Billy Sunday. I do not recall ever reading it. Yet it is familiar.
Thank you Bwak.
August 28, 2009 4:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
It got re-published under the title, "Ode to a Bunkshooter."
This is the original.
August 28, 2009 4:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
Wow, Bwak, a Carl Sandburg rant. Never saw that.
A clip from a bio about him, DD. I didn't know much about him either except that he was BIG and Elmer Gantry (note the paper) was supposedly (loosely) based on him.
August 28, 2009 4:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
Don, How are you? How's the kid? Good I hope.
I've been reading and agreeing with you, I just haven't had the wherewithal to make an interesting comment.
I hope all is well.
August 28, 2009 5:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
Good, Bwak, thanks. He's still fighting the system and recovering. I'm home with the flu right now (I suspect it's swine flu this early; strange after all my bitching about it last Spring). Thanks for asking. Hope you and yours are doing well.
August 28, 2009 6:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
Funny you should mention Swine Flu... I was pretty sure my daughter and I had it, turns out it was 'just' bronchitis. In August. Ack!
=D
I'm recovering me ownself. Glad to hear the kid is recovering. I wish I could help.
August 28, 2009 7:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oh well, if it's only bronchitis... Hope they're treating it effectively. Feel better, both of you (would she rather be back in school?).
August 28, 2009 7:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
She starts school Tuesday, and the antibiotics the doc gave me, (cuz I told him I was uninsured, which I am for another month), make me feel like I am sucking on a penny. I needed to lose a few pounds, anyway. She has different ones, which I spent a long time reading about. Ack! Not like the old days when one could trust in MDs judgements.
We will muddle through. We always do, somehow. It's a pity that we all have to worry so. The standard of living in this country has taken a nose dive in the last 10 years, yet I am working harder than ever.
It's baffling, really.
August 28, 2009 7:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes ma'am, it is. Well, remember to suck the pennies until they're all gone. My doc called yesterday and I gave him a rundown. He just kind of grunted agreement that i had a flu bug, but was really interested in scheduling me for annual bloodwork (same stuff I'd had done recently at a health fair) to keep up his billing. -watchagonnado?
August 28, 2009 7:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
Bwak just a wonderful little thread you have put together with Don. This little tete a tete is wonderful. Its personal, its familial. Its just wonderful.
GET WELL
August 28, 2009 7:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks, but it's FRIED-DAY, and I haz to celebrate he end of one stressful week
(clink)
I will get well, maybe after I can get an affordable health plan. Please....soon....
August 28, 2009 7:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
Beautifully written and juxtaposed Mr. Day!
Recalling the Tao of Shakespeare, we pray forgive
our 2009 political condition in light of Jesus
and Edward Kennedy:
Now is the autumn of our discontent
Made glorious summer by this son of Mass;
And soon the lies that fall upon His house
In the deep bosom of the ocean buried.
::
August 28, 2009 5:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is so sweet Strato. Beautifully crafted.
The son of mass.....
August 28, 2009 5:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
Son of Mass, another great Strato line, eh?
And I love the Tao lead-in's you've been using lately, Dick.
But as for Coughlin, I'd like to give you some happy news. He was Canadian, and didn't move to the States until his 30's. A bit like Krauthammer and Frum. But, as a wise man once said...
WHAT'S A MOTHER TO DO???
August 28, 2009 8:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
Lets see. Canadian Catholics. French CAnucks?
hahahahaha
Well I heard tell, but I think when you follow the el papa you have to switch nationalities and enjoy pasta
hahahahah
August 28, 2009 8:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
The son of Mass...
...achusetts?
Love it.
August 28, 2009 7:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks Bwak :~) Yes, and also his religious practice.
Hope you are feeling better and your darling too.
August 30, 2009 2:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well, leaving aside the "true Christians" meme, which is toxic enough...I would say that they have had 2,000 years, and have failed abysmally at showing any superiority of thought, empathy, understanding, or leadership. On the contrary, they have been yet one more negative force that hides behind the idea of "faith" as though that in and of itself is a good thing. In fact it is the very reason we have wars and conflict; selfishness and dishonor.
Imagine a world with fair laws and no religious hatred -- wow -- it would be unachievable because then no one could capitalize on the ignorance of others -- as long as religious "leaders" can enrich themselves through the ignorance of others, religion will always be with us.
August 28, 2009 7:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
THERE IS MY FRIEND CVILLE!!!!!
A little rage, a short rant, not so bad. Again I think to HELL with all of it.
GOD IS DEAD.
ha
Imagine.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okd3hLlvvLw
You take care CVille
August 28, 2009 7:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
Your observations coincide with mine. Thank you for expressing it in a way I am unable. Another great post.
I have worked in several different environments over my work career. Now being back in a smaller town atmosphere, getting to know folks and knowing many of their backgrounds, it is easy to see how prevalent the prey and fear factors are, and how badly some people utilize prey and fear, and how badly others succumb.
August 28, 2009 11:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
You got that right biker.
August 29, 2009 12:44 AM | Reply | Permalink