Endless echos of human madness 

crisscrossing time. 


Centuries of rage, 

back to back, and 

not one moment 

of silence 

in between. 

Not one collective repose. 

Not one humanity-wide 

synchronous embrace. 

Not one solitary pause. 


How many millions of years 

has it been 

since any of us heard, 

all at once, 

anyone other than ourselves? 


And yet we don't 

really even hear ourselves, 

do we? 


And if we don't 

even hear ourselves, 

how could we ever hope 

to hear peace 

when peace decides 

to break its silence? 


If we ever gave 

peace the microphone, 

would we even 

recognize its voice?

Take it easy, no sudden moves.  

It's a beautiful night sir 

lift your fingertips 

from those keyboard grooves.


You've said your piece 

so too have they

it's over for now

no reason to stay.


Rise up from the madness

let your mind roam. 

it's a beautiful night 

and the angels and devils 

are rushing home. 


The sun is falling 

no, not the sky 

It's a beautiful night sir

stop wrestling with 

why 

why 

why


so your body writhes

and your mind reels

and your life feels

like crushed crayons

and broken pinwheels


so you think you see

all you're meant to be

you think your soul 

won't 

ever 

ever

ever 

shake free


but it's not like that

not at all in fact


not on the other side of the fog

It's a beautiful night sir

Step away from the blog.

that darkness rolls deep

but it's a beautiful night sir

don't hide in your sleep

I know I know 

that sadness weighs a ton

But hand to god I promise

there's poetry in the universe-- 

enough 

for everyone

 

The NO!! For Hire crowds we're seeing at town halls nationwide are brutal, intensely disruptive, and about as backwards as a modern civil society has ever seen.

The mobs arrive bloodthirsty and truth-starved, armed with fear and bile and unfound rumors, thanks to the corrupt conservative slime lords who drive them into a salivating frenzy of hate, leaving them frothing at the mouths once they get handed the microphone.   

How many lies can you feed these human beings before they crack?  It's only a matter of time.  

What's worse, look who's doing the feeding:

Rick Scott, founder of "Conservatives for Patients Rights",former CEO of a hospital group that had to pay out $1.7 billion in fines to settle allegations of overcharging Medicare and Medicaid.  

Dick Armey, chairman of conservative DC lobbying firm "Freedom Works"--which represents pharmaceutical powerhouses like Bristol-Myers Squibb--this is Dick Armey, former Republican majority leader, the man who claimed that in his world view, because God created the heavens and the Earth, it would be "quite pretentious" for people to believe God would permit global warming to even occur.    

David Koch, chairman of Koch Industries, the largest privately held oil company in the U.S.,  Kock is the primary financier of Americans for Prosperity--whose subsidiary is the fiercely counterintuitively named "Patients First".

Patients First?

Really?!

Isn't this more like Lobbyists First? 

Let's establish a universal truth about the names of these advocacy groups;  the more human-rights oriented the front sounds--the stronger the name cries out justice for the little guy, the greater the chances are that there is large twisted maniacal laughter lurking behind it. 

You cannot debate rationally with these people.  They do not want a debate.  

They want a fist fight.  

No.  Even that's not enough.

They want an ECW title match.  

They are hoping to snatch idiocy from the jaws of enlightenment.  

They'd rather a fight break out than the truth because the truth would ruin them.  

The truth always ruins them.  

The truth about who they really are is ruining them as we speak.  

How many moderates or independents will want to be associated with this vast corrupt underbelly of politics?

Granted, there are plenty of Americans who will proudly confess their loyalty to the likes of radiovangelists like Rush Limbaugh.  

And plenty who will take their marching orders from Glenn Beck as if it's their patriotic duty. 

But I think the more Americans see just how underhanded and uninformed and unhinged this astro-turf roots movement is;  the more they see just which robber barons are funding it, stoking rage for the sole purpose of protecting corporate proifts;  the more they see just which of the usual suspects are the real driving force behind it, the faster it will all fail.   

And it will be an epic fail.   

We are in the heat of it now.  And it looks familiar and awful and evil and hopeless and it's easy to lose faith.  

But you cannot build effectively long term when all you become known for is unabashed malevolence and perpetual destruction.   

When you are found out.  

When you are caught on camera, red-handed.  

When you are exposed as outright criminals. 

That is the difference here, this time.  

There is national exposure of average Americans being used as fronts for corporate benefactors.   It's like corporate-motive laundering. 

The more sunlight on this sinister practice the better.  

Let this descent into chaos receive more and more PR.     

Reason will ascend more strongly as a result.   



 

What's going on with the health care reform bill?  

Is it a hail mary?  

Fumble?  

Razzle dazzle*
(restrictions may apply with regard to success of actual resulting dazzle. In some states, dazzle is void where prohibited.)  

Is it quickly becoming a bunt, when what we really need is a home run?

Is it a 280 yard drive to the hole that will get us to within putting range of an extraordinary legislative achievement?

Or is it a drive to the basket that will roll around the rim six times, just barely drop in and draw enough flagrant fouls to potentially win on free throws?

Is it a classic give and go?  Give the pharmaceutical and health insurance industry everything they want, then go on August recess?

Is it a fake left, go right to reconciliation?

Is it a prison football game?  Where most of the participants are actually hardened criminals including the warden and the guards?  And the new guy is just looking to cut deals for personal protection?

Is it only an exhibition game this time around?  (Real season not starting for another 57 years.)

Is it one quarterback vs 7000 lineman ready to pounce on him including Democrats facing the wrong way?

Okay, I got this started.  

Anyone want to take the ball and run with it?

Bottom line, aren't the reps and Senators that take campaign money from the medical industrial complex the real villains here?

Not that the people who are offering them bribes aren't criminals. They are.  

But what about these "statesmen" that accept those bribes? They're stuffing their pockets with $1.4 million a day.  

They're the real villains, aren't they?   They're the ones who sell their votes to corporate citizens while selling out average citizens--they then go on TV and pretend this isn't a flagrant criminal enterprise operating in full view of the public.  

Those who accept the most money from the insurance industry are the ones getting in the way of reform.  This is no coincidence.  

To be fair, insurance companies are certainly not angels in all this.  

But they're not even pretending to represent the best interests of American citizens.  One look at the testimonies of the smug presidents of these companies and you know they're not even bothering to feign "care". For example, when asked if they would stop their company's rescission practices, they all said no.  

They're not the worst of the worst actors involved in this charade called health care reform, though. 

No. Make no mistake.  The ones committing the real crime against humanity here are those elected to promote the general welfare of American citizens but sell their souls to the highest bidder.

You think the health care system in this country is unsustainable?  That's nothing.  

It's the way things are done in Washington that is unsustainable.  It's the people who perpetuate this crime syndicate from the inside that threaten the health and well-being of every man woman and child in America.  

It's not the anonymous health insurance bureaucrat that pulls your coverage out from under you just when you need it most.    

No.  The evil here has a name.  

And that name very likely starts with Representative or Senator.  

Now it's true that they are not all villains. Some of them are far from it.  

But all it takes is a dirty stinking rotten no good few dripping with insatiable greed to step in the way of honest effective reform.   

We don't have to create an enemy here.  We don't have to find a bad guy.  We don't have to demonize health insurance companies, or pharmaceutical companies.  They are not pretending to be anything but demons.  

It's those pretending to do the right thing, those feigning innocence, deflecting criticism, raging at those who would dare accuse them of pay for play that must be brought out into the sunlight, that most universal of all disinfectants, so that all can see the error of their ways.  

So that they themselves can see the error of their ways.  

Not that they ever will. 

After all, there are probably a breed of villains so vile they have to ride in the back of the devil's bus.