open letters to the candidates send to democratic candidates December 27,2019. I send an earlier letter to Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris and Joe Biden on similar themes.
Will update if anyone responds. Follows an earlier letter to Donald Trump but his campaign has not answered the call as of today.
In any event, I believe that the time is now to call for national service in exchange for free college tuition/vocational training or grants to open small businesses. Three years of service followed by four years of either college/technical training, or assistance in opening a small business.
Call for Free College Education Coupled with National Service Requirements.
Dear Democratic Candidates:
I am writing to all of you and to President Trump to call for your to embrace national service in exchange for free college/technical training or assistance in opening a business.
It is time to change the game plan in Washington DC. You need a new bold proposal that will unite the country and heel the divisions.My proposal is for you to embrace mandatory national service for three years.Everyone finishing their service would receive full funding for college, technical training or a grant to set up their own business because after all not everyone needs to go to college, we need to encourage technical training and starting up small business as well.
the key is that the service would be universal and all citizens and LPR’s between age 18 and 25 would serve three years – no exceptions.Most would be military, but people could serve as fine fathers. adjust police officers, adjust border patrol officers, adjust teachers, peace corps volunteers or serve in state/local and federal government positions.
Call for all Americans to serve three years in public service either in the military or in the government or NGO sector and in return, they will get four years of college paid for. For recent graduates , they can serve and get their college debt forgiven. To those who say we can’t afford this, say we can’t afford to continue to put our college students in crippling debt they cannot afford. And everyone, especially the rich, should shoulder the burden of national service. and point out that shifting to a mandatory national service requirement would save the Pentagon money on salaries. the cost would be modest – minimum wage, housing, medical care and college tuition after their service. People would serve between age 18 and 25 one year of training and two years of service, with an optional second enlistment for three more years of educational benefits through PHD/professional degrees.
Free College/technical training or money to open a business in exchange for national service
Most people will start college, or tech training institute, then do military or other service, and then return to college to finish their college. That is fine. Ensure that colleges will not only accommodate that but will also offer college credits for military and other on the job training acquired during national service. This would also cut the cost of college attendance for most people to a manageable three years instead of four to five years. And of course, ensure that people can go to technical training institutes instead of a traditional college as we really need to grow the next generation of technical workers as well. and also ensure that those who wish financial assistance in setting up a small business would receive that assistance as well as we need to encourage the small business start ups as well.
After finishing basis service, those who wish to make a career of it could compete to become an NCO or an officer, and resume service after finishing college. And/or compete to enter government service for the Federal government or state and local government as well.
All Must Serve
And most importantly, shared national service will help restore America’s sense that this is our land, this land belongs to everyone. The rich and the poor alike. We are all in this together. We have lost sight of that. The military has become an army of paid mercenaries recruited from the lower classes. If everyone serves, there will be less temptation to send troops into harms way. This will be a win- win for everyone except for the student loan vultures.
I would bring most of the troops home and station them along the southern border where they could be used to help bolster border security, and assist as first responders to natural disaster. Sell this as a real border security that will get the job done.
Establish New Service Academies for the Diplomatic and Intelligence Services and law Enforcement
I would also call for two new national service academies to be set up. One would be for diplomatic and intelligence service, the other would be for law enforcement. These academies like the military academies including a coast guard academy, and beefing up the maritime service academy, would take only those who finished their military basis service. this would be a great way to restore our diplomatic corps and intelligence services as well as our law enforcement person
National Service Will Bring US together as one nation
I believe that this proposal could be enacted with wide spread bipartisan support.It would go a long way to help heal the divisions of our country and bring us all together as a nation. I hope you will fully embrace this proposal and I look forward to discussion g it with yours staff.
bio follows
Jake Cosmos Aller is a blogger, writer and poet living in South Korea.he retired from serving 27 years in the Foreign Service working in ten countries doing a wide variety of positions including consular positions, economic and commercial positions and political positions.he speaks Korean, Spanish and Thai.He grew up in Berkeley, California.He graduated from UOP in Stockton, California and the University of Washington where he obtained a MA in Korean studies and a MPA degree.his work has been published in 45 literary journals.His web page is https://theworldaccordingtocosmos.com
Dear President Trump
Call for Free College Education Coupled with National Service Requirements.
It is time to change the game plan in Washington DC. You need a new bold proposal that will unite the country and heel the divisions.My proposal is for you to embrace mandatory national service for three years.Everyone finishing their service would receive full funding for college, technical training or a grant to set up their own business because after all not everyone needs to go to college, we need to encourage technical training and starting up small business as well.
the key is that the service would be universal and all citizens and LPR’s between age 18 and 25 would serve three years – no exceptions.Most would be military, but people could serve as fine fathers. adjust police officers, adjust border patrol officers, adjust teachers, peace corps volunteers or serve in state/local and federal government positions.
Call for all Americans to serve three years in public service either in the military or in the government or NGO sector and in return, they will get four years of college paid for. For recent graduates , they can serve and get their college debt forgiven. To those who say we can’t afford this, say we can’t afford to continue to put our college students in crippling debt they cannot afford. And everyone, especially the rich, should shoulder the burden of national service. and point out that shifting to a mandatory national service requirement would save the Pentagon money on salaries. the cost would be modest – minimum wage, housing, medical care and college tuition after their service. People would serve between age 18 and 25 one year of training and two years of service, with an optional second enlistment. Those who complete six years will get six years’ worth of tuition.
Also talk about how this would allow college to be truly affordable for all, and would eliminate crippling college debts. Students will gain solid work experience in service, travel, and training. the training could be transferred into college credit making college shorter perhaps three years instead of four for most people.
All Must Serve
And most importantly, shared national service will help restore America’s sense that this is our land, this land belongs to everyone. The rich and the poor alike. We are all in this together. We have lost sight of that. The military has become an army of paid mercenaries recruited from the lower classes. If everyone serves, there will be less temptation to send troops into harms way. This will be a win- win for everyone except for the student loan vultures.
I would bring most of the troops home and station them along the southern border where they could be used to help bolster border security, and assist as first responders to natural disaster. Sell this as a real border security that will get the job done.
Establish New Service Academies for the Diplomatic and Intelligence Services and law Enforcement
I would also call for two new national service academies to be set up. One would be for diplomatic and intelligence service, the other would be for law enforcement. These academies like the military academies including a coast guard academy, and beefing up the maritime service academy, would take only those who finished their military basis service. this would be a great way to restore our diplomatic corps and intelligence services as well as our law enforcement personnel.
Benefits of National Service
The service requirement would be managed by the corporation for public service which would also manage the Peace Corps, VISTA programs and teach for America which would all qualify as qualified national service.
Regarding the Peace corps, and the other volunteer service opportunities, set it up that people would do their college service, then do the peace corps afterwards. they would receive college tuition etc while attending college.
Most people will start college, or tech training institute, then do military or other service, and then return to college to finish their college. That is fine. Ensure that colleges will not only accommodate that but will also offer college credits for military and other on the job training acquired during national service. This would also cut the cost of college attendance for most people to a manageable three years instead of four to five years. And of course, ensure that people can go to technical training institutes instead of a traditional college as we really need to grow the next generation of technical workers as well. and also ensure that those who wish financial assistance in setting up a small business would receive that assistance as well as we need to encourage the small business start ups as well.
After finishing basis service, those who wish to make a career of it could compete to become an NCO or an officer, and resume service after finishing college. And/or compete to enter government service for the Federal government or state and local government as well.
National Service Will Bring Us Together as a Nation
I believe that this proposal could be enacted with wide spread bipartisan support.It would go a long way to help heal the divisions of our country and bring us all together as a nation. I hope you will fully embrace this proposal and I look forward to discussion g it with yours staff
Sincerely
Jake Cosmos Aller
bio follows
jake Cosmos Aller is a blogger, writer and poet living in South Korea.he retired from serving 27 years in the Foreign Service working in ten countries doing a wide variety of positions including consular positions, economic and commercial positions and political positions.he speaks Korean, Spanish and Thai.He grew up in Berkeley, California.He graduated from UOP in Stockton, California and the University of Washington where he obtained a MA in Korean studies and a MPA degree.his work has been published in 45 literary journals.His web page is https://theworldaccordingtocosmos.com
The homeless crisis in the United States has gotten
out of control. Something must be done I’m both the federal state and local levels to solve the problem of homelessness in the United States. The private sector, especially large employers, the tech sector, the universities, and the NGO sector must be involved as well. This must must be made a top priority of the Federal and state governments to end the scourge of homelessness once and for all recognizing that housing is a basic human right and no one in America will be allowed to live on the streets anymore. Here are my proposals. I would call upon the Department of Housing to take the lead by convening a national convention on the Housing Crisis with follow-up legislation and action by the Federal government, in cooperation with State, Local governments and the private sector.
There’re four elements to my proposal
There must be a lot more housing built, mostly Multi family units, old-style boarding houses and single family residence hotels I’ve departed that picture as well including Group housing, and temporary housing for the chronic homeless should be set up knees tent cities would provide employment Basic medical care training and assistance to transition the residents into more permanent housing solutions.
Housing is a Basic human Right
One of the key elements of the proposal is the recognition that housing is a basic human right, no one and no one Will be allowed to live on the streets. If someone cannot afford housing today would be a sign to the homeless camps and this would be mandatory.
I know that this part of the proposal will be controversial from a civil liberty point of view, but I feel it is essential to solve the homeless problem. It is simply unacceptable then in the richest country in the world are being forced to live on the streets.
To pay for new housing and the the shelter system, a modest increase and income taxes is warranted. Most of the cost of running the shelters an expansion of housing should be done to the federal government.
As part of the solution, housing vouchers should be provided to people who are earning less than I hundred 200 of the poverty line so that they could afford to rent housing.
More housing Must Be Build
There must be a lot more housing built everyhere, and most of them must be built along transit lines, and most must be multi family unit facilities. The era of single-family homes Will have to come to and end. As part of this it must be made easier to convert single-family homes in the multifamily units, so call granny flat must be made available everywhere, short term housing must be regulated and made part of the pictures well.
Changes to Zoning, Smart Growth Policies
Local zoning laws that restrict housing in the residential areas only need to be revised, the goal should be mixed use development everywhere. Large buildings should consist of apartment offices and retail, smaller scale developments must include offices and retail as well. The goal should be a cityscape something similar to develop to the development any station where most housing is multi use buildings and everyone is within walking distance of offices retail and transit. Metropolitan governments need to have a regional planning office to coordinate new housing we develop mental housing retail commercial development an improved access to transit. Developers Will be giving incentives to build most housing at market value or below market value housing.
In California in other states that have similar restrictions, prop 13 and other property tax restrictions must be revised to encourage courage people to sell properties or renovate properties. Similarly zoning laws must be changed to encourage housing development, and mixed use development, and smart growth policies. The era when developers build housing far from transportation systems without any coordination with local government or planning must end.
Boarding Houses , Dormitories, other Group Housing and SOH’s need to be revived
As part of the housing problem, boarding houses, Group houses, dormitories for corporate workers, government workers including fire fighters, police and teachers, and university students on site need to be part of that package as well. inexpensive single occupancy hotels must be part of the package with the recognition that Half the population will end up living in these group housing arrangements. Very few people Will live in single-family homes anymore, most people will live in need of poop housing for apartment buildings, although there will be still people living in single-family homes and that is fine.
temporary housing camps including a revival of the Civilian Conservation Camp need to be part of the Proposal
Homeless tent camps should be legalized and located and areas near downtown. The camps must be located along transit lines. Anyone who needs a place to stay would be given a cot in a four man tent. The tenants will be heated and have air-conditioning, and Wi-Fi access. All the residents of the camp will work 30 hours a week to help maintain the camps in an hygienic attractive a manner, administrative services and law enforcement services for the camp, or will work in the national, state and local parks and forrest doing conservation projects, or serving as first responders. thus some people will live off site for a considerable amount of time near the forest, and park conservation sites, but all people will be assigned to a home camp. That camps will have food services for the residents food services for the residents medical services an offer education and training services as well.
the Camps would be run like the old CCC camps award of the great depression. The Cams will provide temporary housing for people in exchange for assistance and public service employment activities including conservation activities. Drug use alcohol use and gambling of course will be illegal in the camps, as will panhandling. Sleeping on the streets outside the camp will be illegal and the homeless will be rounded up and taken to the camps involuntarily if needed.
To pay for these camps, the federal government we’ll pay for most of the cost.
State and local governments working with the real estate developers, will develop low cost permanent housing, and camp residents will be transited into permanent housing as a housing is brought online.
The Camps will be open to all who need them including undocumented Aliens. No one will be turned away board turned into an immigration.
The camps be training and educational service centers, and temporary employment centers, with most residents living elsewhere.
We can Solve the Problem if We Make it an Urgent National Priority
If all these proposals are enacted in a comprehensive national strategy, the scourge of homelessness can be defeated and no one in America we’ll be forced to live on the streets.
Broken Down Souls Poems
Broken Down Souls
Homeless Fears
No One Knows Their Names
Trump’s Social Cleansing Program
Social Purification Drives
Broken Down Souls Do You See Them?
Broken Down Souls
Broken Down Souls
You see them everywhere
On the street
On the bus
On the metro
But mostly wandering the streets
Lost souls
Broken down defeated souls
The souls of the living dead
Dead inside
Waiting for death
To deliver them
from the agony
Of the living dead
They make do
They beg
They steel
They con their way
Living the street life
Living death
Broken Souls
You have two minds
One part of you
the fearful part of you
Conditioned to ignore
Conditioned to walk by
Ignoring the tragic wounded lives
The broken souls all around you
But part of you knows
That you can’t do that
But you can’t save everyone
So, you do what you can
You help those
whom you can
All it takes
is a little act of compassion
A little human kindness
A few bucks or a cup of coffee
And you walk by
Knowing just knowing
That by a simple act of acknowledging
Our shared humanity
You have made a small victory
And brought happiness
To yet another
broken down soul
And the fear
that you will
be a broken soul some day
Recedes away
Not me never
Never will happen to me
But one forgets
It is a simple matter
A wrong turn in life
The wrong place
wrong time
wrong thing
And you could be the broken soul
On the street
Begging to be heard
Begging to be taken away
And so,
I walk on by no more
I will listen
I will talk to them
I will make a small difference
And in so doing
Avoid becoming
a broken-down soul
Homeless Fears
I almost became
a broken-down soul
Out on the street
So many years ago
I was in college
Adrift for the summer
Smoking too much weed
Aimless
And I hung out
And got to know
Some of the homeless
Some of the bums on the street
And I vowed
That I would never be that person
Never sink that low
Never ever
Be the homeless bum
The invisible man
And that knowledge
Stuck with me
Throughout my life
Now many decades later
I try to remember
And I try to help
When I can
And recall what
it would be like
To be on the street
With nothing
but your clothes
And the money you borrowed
To keep you alive
No One Knows Their Name
The worst part of it all
As I survey the homeless
Across this great land of ours
The worst part of it all
Is that no one knows their name
No one knows their story
No one cares at all
And in this age of hatred
Sponsored by our president himself
The homeless are being treated
More and more as disposable trash
More and cities
Are banning the homeless
From their cities
Banning feeding the homeless
Banning begging
Banning sleeping in the streets
And banning their camp sites
If they could
they would
round them all up
And shoot them
Or let them run for their life
In some sort of game on TV
Because the homeless
Are an affront
to these so called
Christian patriots
They are lazy good for nothing losers
Who cause problems for good citizens
They should be locked up
Or removed
For the good of us all
No one wants them
No one cares
And no one knows their name
President Trump Discovers the Homeless
President Trump
Our dear compassion leader
Recently discovered
That homeless people
Were everywhere
All over DC
NYC
And especially LA and SF
The homeless were becoming
A huge problem
And something must be done
The homeless were taking
Up the best real estate
And making life difficult
For the masters of the Universe
Something must be done
The homeless have to be rounded up
And sent to camps
Out of sight
out of mind
and people would wonder
where did the homeless people go
To end the scourge of homelessness
Once and for all
The decree went out
The police rounded them all up
Shut down the street vendors
and homeless shanty towns
Sent them off for re-education
Deep in the countryside
Just in time for the Olympics
The homeless disappeared
Broken Down Souls Do You See them?
Broken down Souls Do You see them
Or are they invisible
all the broken souls
wandering the streets
no where to go
but to hell
on earth
now
now
you see
that they are
everywhere you see
can you see them now
will you be friend them now
or will you still look away
afraid that you will become them
the following sites are good sites to learn more and get involved in helping solve the problem. I will share this blog posting with them and update it if they respond to my blog
these are some of my most recent poems that I have posted on All Poetry, Poetry Soup, Cosmos-funnel, Hello Poetry, Poetry Opus Magnum, Fan Story and Sweek among other places. Check it out.
end of the worldDeep Fake Era
Demon Cat from Oregon
Strange Cat Looking at Me
Cat Dreams Kill All Humans
Visiting Father’s Grave
Ghosts of Yakima
Another Day Another
Mountain Forrest
End Times Approaches
Rumors of War
Deep Fake Era is Upon Us
The Deep fake era is upon us
Every thing is fake these days
Everything is a fraud
Prepare for the deep fake world
Fakery, fraud, and falsehoods abound
All artfully done Killing the last shred of human decency left
Everything is a deep fake
these days
Oregon Demon Cat
The demon cat
Lived in Medford Oregon
The demon cat was a big black cat
His eyes were filled with demonic energy
He stared at you
Looking into your very soul
Filled with anger, and hatred
For the entire human race
He seemed at times
To be not from this planet
Perhaps an alien species
Studying the human race
Or perhaps he came
Form hell itself
The demon cat loved to torment visitors
For some reason he hated the man’s daughter
The cat would stare at her from his perch
Down the hall from the old man
Then he would run at her
Screaming like an escaped banshee
Straight out of hell
She told her dad
Either the cat goes
Or I go
He said
See you later
The demon cat smiled
At the small victory
And she left the house
With the demon cat
Screeching good bye
Strange Cat Watching Me
A cat sits on the edge of a bed
Watching me watching him
Both of us thinking
What sort of strange creature this is
That has invaded our personal space
Upending our daily routines
The cat came up to me
Staring at me
with his soulful eyes
Boring into my very soul
Looking for answers
To these dark fundamental questions
The cat smiles a mysterious smile
And purrs in contentment
Having found an answer of sorts
And indicates that we can be friends
As long as I know
That he is the boss of me
And I pet him
Acknowledging
the time honored
Ritual of human cat interaction
That dates
back to the dawn of time
When humans and cats
First became aware
Of the other
Strange creature
that shared
our planet
Cat Dreams Kill Humans
cat sitting smiling
cat lost in buddha trance thought
cat dreams kill humans
Visiting Father’s Grave
Visiting my father’s grave
In Yakima
The ancestral land of the Aller clan
Thinking about my father
And his legacy
And thinking that I am
My father’s son
There is so much
I wanted to tell him
So much I wanted to share
So much I wanted him to see
My accomplishments
He was taken from me
Before I had achieved
my dreams
Before I had become the man
That he and I both knew
I was destined to be
Ghosts in Yakima
Walking along a graveyard
Looking for my father’s grave
Seeing all the gravestones
I begin to sense the spirits
Of the restless dead
They linger around the graveyards
Waiting for visitors
Eager to talk to anyone
Who cares to stop
And chat
So lonely being a ghost
With no one to haunt
Mountain Forests
Driving through the vast forests
Of Central Oregon
Through the wall of trees
I imagine them talking to me
The trees are whispering
Dark satanic rituals
Voodoo mumble jumble
Evil chanting
Then they speak
Loud and clear
Welcome humans
To our world
You think you are
The king of the world
The lords of creation
Masters of the universe?
Soon, all too soon
God and Gaia his daughter
Will tire of you
Their latest plaything
They will discard you
Throw you down
Disgusted at the world
You have made
You took the world
They gave you for your pleasure
This huge wonderful world
Filled with life
You took a paradise
Beautiful, bountiful
Rich and wonderful world
Turned it into a sewer dump
God and Gaia
are not happy
Not happy at all
With you stupid humans
They will rise up
Smite you down
And turn you
Into dust in the cosmic wind
And we will laugh
and we will be witnesses
at your funeral
but we will not cry
No one will cry
No one will miss you
No one cares about
The fate of humanity
And so you
Will fade away
Into the distance past
Just dust in the cosmic wind
And the trees started laughing
And the birds and bees
And all the other animals
All joined in the maniacal laughter
Laughing at the prospect
Of poetic justice For the enemies
Of the natural world
And the coyotes
And the wolves
Joined in howling
Under the light of the full moon
Thus I imagined
Would be the end of days
The end of the world
And the end of humanity
Another Day Another Shooting
another day in paradise
just another day in America
land of the free
Home of the brave
and guns
lots of guns
more guns for all
cries the NRA
yes another day
another gun battle
another white man
who just wants to kill
the President sends his condolences
Thanks the law enforcement
for an incredible job well done
It was horrible
Hate has no place
in our country
and we will take of it
and do what ever we can do
condolences
nothing but false words
empty words
lots of things to do
it is mental illness problem
but he fails to mention
the words gun at all
not at all
and tomorrow and tomorrow
but he at least finally said
hate has no role in our country
nothing but prime BS
in my humble opinion
he did not mention
white supremacy
his rhetoric had nothing
nothing to do about this at all
and so tomorrow
I will turn on the TV
and we see nothing
nothing has changed at all
and the dead
will remain dead
the guns will fire again
nothing will be done
welcome to America
land of the free
home of the brave
the End Times Approaches
why do I feel
the end times are approaching
with each passing day
the news gets worst
the hatred grows
the fear grows
the end of time
comes closer to our door
and I fear
the growing power
of the fascists
and their ilk
and I fear
that the world
is ending soon
Rumors of War
it seems that
we are in the end times
wars, and rumors of war
terrorism all around us
the dogs of war
are restless, just waiting
to emerge from their lairs
to unleash havoc
death and destruction
end of the world
and the leader of the world
our purported president
is every day
becoming more deranged
moment by moment
loosing his mind
as the inner demons
take over
and at such a time
when the whole world
seems to be sliding towards war
Our dear leader
seems determined
to lead us to the ultimate
war of all
world war 111
looms ahead
it could start any day
and nothing will stop
our idiot in chief
from unleashing
the dogs of war
I am curious about your statement that God “ordered you to serve President Trump and to say no to
resident Trump would be saying no to God and I won’t do that.”
You see I too have spoken to God and he told me something quite different. God appeared to me in a dream. He was a black man, looked like Morgan Freeman. He had a deep base voice and he had a message to Jim Baaker and others who claim to speak to God. God he said does not speak to Idiots and I did not anoint Donald Trump who is far from Godly. He begged me to write to you and tell you to STFU. Hence this letter. Let’s get to it.
You claim without providing any evidence that you spoke with God. First of all, how did God speak to you? Did he come to you in a Dream? Did he appear in person? Did he talk to you on the phone? Did he speak English? If you saw God, what did What did look like? Was he white? Was he black? Was he Asian? Was he Jewish? Was he Arab? Was he blond? Did he have a beard? If so, was it white? What color eyes did he have? Was God Male? or Female? Gay or straight? Was he old? young? middle age? What did he sound like? Morgan Freeman? Clint Eastwood? or someone else? Did he speak English? Spanish? Arabic? French? Russian? Or did you hear him in your head? Is God a republican? is he a democrat? is he independent? Did he vote? if so where? and what ID did he use? Does he even have an ID? what state does he live in? California? Florida? Montana?
If you spoke on the phone what is the phone number to God? what is his twitter account? his Facebook address? How much did the call cost? Did he call you? Or did he call you? Did he tweet you? Facebook friend you? Instant message you? WHATSAP you? Did you record it? Do you have a transcript of the call?
When did God speak to you? where was he calling from? what time zone? what country? what planet? or was it heaven?
What exactly did God say to you?
and how do you know it was God?
Did he identify himself as God saying this is God speaking? What did he call himself? God, Yahweh, Allah?
Could it have been voices in your head?
Have you seen a doctor about these aural and visual hallucinations you are hearing and seeing? Had you been drinking before talking to God? Taking drugs? Running? Were you sleeping when God appeared in your dream? Or were you wide awake and God was in the room live and physically real? Did you touch God? Did he touch you?
Paula,
why did God speak to you? Why are you his spokesperson?
did he explain that?
Did God tell you that he is supporting Donald Trump and that he made him President and order you to support him? Again did God explain why he is supporting God?
There are almost 8 billion people on earth. Why is he speaking to you and only you?
Why is God supporting Trump anyway? I mean Paula, seriously, Trump is almost the anti-Christ in his actions and behavior. Hardly God like and he certainly is not following the words of Jesus. and he does not go to Church anyway.
if you have a chance to talk to God tell him to call me. I have lots of questions for God.
thank you for reading this and I hope that you get some help as you are seriously deluded if you
believe that God is speaking to you.
Oh here are some poems I wrote on this theme. I hope you find them amusing.
Poems about God
Here are some of my poems about God. Comments welcomed. And if I offend people, well you are entitled to your opinion and I am entitled to my opinion.
God Does Not Talk to Idiots
Every day
There is another outrageous statement
From this preacher or that preacher
Saying that God spoke to them
And told them that Trump
Was anointed by God himself
And would bring us all to the promised land
Well I hate to bring it up
But felt that I must
If God exists
And is all powerful
Why would he waste his time
Talking to these idiot preachers?
And why would he anoint Trump
The most ungodly of all politicians
How do these preachers know
It is God calling
Does God speak to them?
And what does God sound like?
How did God talk to them?
On the phone? By email? By tweet
Or by visions or voices in their head?
Or are they just raving lunatics
Who think that God is calling them?
God does not in my opinion
Talk to idiots
Nor should he tolerate these fools any more
God does not send us hurricanes or tornadoes
To punish us
That is beneath his pay grade
God is god and is mysterious
And if he speaks to us at all
We surely do not understand
Anything he says
As we have surely screwed up
The teachings of his prophets
So, I wish to end this by saying
Oh, you false prophets
STFU
God is not calling you
And never has
Just SFTU already
God in My Coffee
One dismal demented morning
As I contemplated the dawning day
Trying to wake up from the nightmares
That have been haunting my every night
I reached for my morning cup of hot coffee
And as I drank my morning poison
My snarling sarcastic cup of java
Frying my neurons with caffeine
I saw God
He had the look – tall white hair beard
And those piercing blue eyes
Starting at you with the thousand-year stare
Of the truly committed
Yes, it was God himself
In the bottom of my cup of coffee
And he was smiling at me
Beckoning me to join him
And so, I jumped into my cup
And went through the door
And found myself
In a giant hallway
Filled with Mr. Smith like
angels working on computers
Programing the day’s plans
I asked where I could find God
They told me that I had an appointment
And I went down the hallway
And found myself in another room
And found God sitting there
Waiting for me
He offered me coffee
And we drank coffee
And talked about this and that
I asked him what he wanted
He said nothing but my understanding
And patience
And told me that I was lost
But would be found soon
And told me to go back home
And wait for his signal
For the revolution was coming
And I would lead God’s forces
And then I found myself
Back at home
And drank another cup of coffee
Disgraced evangelist Jim Bakker warns critics they will face God’s wrath for making fun of him
In video captured by Right Wing Watch, disgraced evangelist Jim Bakker raged at his critics saying, they will face the wrath of God for mocking his End Time warnings and making fun of him throughout his checkered career.
Not mentioning his time in the wilderness, after he spent time in prison after bilking his followers out of $158 million, Bakker boasted that he has made many predictions — including 9/11 — that have come true, and that he is not being treated like the prophet he is.
“When God says something to you, you don’t always know the exact time it’s going to happen,” Bakker thundered. “[So] stop beating up the prophets because God says, ‘Woe unto you when you beat up on the prophets.’”
Bakker then threatened damnation on those who have ridiculed him over the years.
“If you don’t want to hear it, just shut me off,” Bakker said. “Especially you folks that monitor me every day to try to destroy me. Just go away. You don’t have to be there, you don’t have to hear it. But one day, you’re going to shake your fist in God’s face and you’re going to say, ‘God, why didn’t you warn me?’ And He’s going say, ‘You sat there and you made fun of Jim Bakker all those years. I warned you but you didn’t listen.’”
God Talks to Rev. Bakker
Rev. Bakker says
When God says something to you,
you don’t always know the exact time it’s going to happen,”
Bakker thundered.
“[So] stop beating up the prophets because God says,
‘Woe unto you when you beat up on the prophets.’”
God just called me up this morning with a message
He said,
Jake. This is God speaking
I loved your poem,
“God Does Not Talk to Idiots.”
God, I don’t even know if you exist
How did you get my number?
I am God you idiot and know everything
Or course, God Sir.
What’s up your royal highness?
Just God would do for now, Jake
Okay.
So Jake, I have a message for Rev. Bakker
And I want you to deliver it
You can email it in
As I am sure he will not like it at all
Why can’t you deliver it?
Because God roared
“I don’t talk to idiots.”
What’s the message?
Quit using my name in vain
Quit saying I call you
Quit saying I talk with you
I don’t know you from Adam
And I don’t like you
How dare you swindle 185 million dollars
From your followers
Using my good name
You sir are an asshole
And Satan has a room for you
Just confirmed it this morning
Oh my more thing, this article says
Bakker then threatened damnation
on those who have ridiculed him over the years.
“If you don’t want to hear it, just shut me off,” Bakker said.
God laughed and said to me
I will shut him up for good for sure
And my TV is set to delete his face
Every time I turn it on
Tell him that as well
Rev. Baaker also said
“Especially you folks that monitor me every day to try to destroy me.
And tell him that I am one of those who monitor him every day
God went on to say,
tell him
And I do want to destroy him
He is bad for the whole brand you know?
Bakker went on to say
Just go away.
You don’t have to be there, you don’t have to hear it.
But one day, you’re going to shake your fist in God’s face
and you’re going to say, ‘God, why didn’t you warn me?’
God said,
Tell him that is rich coming from such a con man
I have been warning people against these shysters
For centuries – it is in the bible after all
Baaker went on,
And He’s going say,
‘You sat there and you made fun of Jim Bakker all those years.
I warned you but you didn’t listen
God said,
Yes Rev. Bakker warned you repeatedly ad nauseum
Until I wanted to vomit
But thought it would be best
to just let him rot in prison.
Give him a taste of hell to come.”
“So Jake, will you accept this cosmic commission?”
Sure thing God.
And that ended my conversation with God
So Rev. Bakker, here’s the deal. God is angry at you
And your friends for misrepresenting the word of God
All these years and for ripping for the gullible
And living the high life getting rich off your believers
I’d repent of your sins I were you
and I’d follow God’s parting words
Finally just tell Rev. Bakker and his fellow false prophets
STFU before I smite you to Hell”
I am writing to you to offer you my advice for winning the nomination and the Presidency. In a nutshell, you have to offer a bold progressive vision that will excite not only your base, but the entire country and change the direction of the U.S. This campaign has to be about competing visions and yes about how to restore American greatness. An optimistic vision is the key. People are tired of anger, and despair and pessimism. If you just campaign on how bad Donald Trump is, you will lose. And we can’t allow that to happen. The future of the world and the U.S. lies with you. I sincerely hope you won’t blow it. I hope you take my advice to heart. You may be our best choice to take down Trump and Trumpism for good. You go Girl.! here’s how to do it.
I retired from the U.S. State Department in 2016 after 27 years of service. I grew up in Berkeley went to college at the University of the Pacific and graduated from the University of Washington (MA Korean Studies, MPA). I also served in the Peace Corps in Korea. I have been to 50 states and 45 countries. and I too am part Cherokee and have distant relatives in Oklahoma.
Don’t Repeat Hillary’s Mistakes
Hillary’s biggest mistake was in my view making it all about how bad Donald Trump is, and not giving the voters a real sense of where she wanted to take the country. And in an age where the voters were ready for a big change to the status quo, being the establishment candidate was the kiss of death. Not to mention she refused to compete everywhere. And allowed Donald Trump to paint her as “crooked Hillary” and as too much part of the establishment which the public rightly distrusted so much. Donald Trump hit a nerve. the system was indeed rigged against the average Joe and the vested interests controlled the politicians. The public said, Screw the system lets go for the bomb thrower. and that is how we got Trump.
She could have picked Bernie Sanders as her running mate, and perhaps defeated Donald Trump. In the end she won where it did not matter and did not compete where she should have competed. and she never overcame the impression that she was the status quo candidate and the establishment’s favorite. You have to be a real outsider, and a real shall I say it revolutionary.
Restoring the old status quo will not work.
That is why I am supporting you vis Joe Biden. Joe Biden is the establishment’s guy. You have to be the establishment’s greatest threat as well as the greatest threat to Trump and his evil cohorts. And Bernie, comes across too much as an angry old man. We already have that in Donald Trump. The voters will ultimately be turned off by Bernie’s anger. The other candidates all have something to offer but for some reason are not taking off. You have momentum building and perhaps it is your time to step up to the stage and become a giant killer and kill Trump off politically. The stakes are that high as you know.
So, in this upcoming election you have to tell the voters why you are so much better for them and the country than Donald Trump. It will not be enough to run against the Donald. People have to want to vote for you. Your experience counts for a lot but it is not enough. Your age is the same as Donald’s so that is a wash.
Let Donald Trump Be Impeached and Self Destruct
I would not waste too much time on impeachment. let the process play itself out. Donald Trump may self-destruct anyway. You don’t need to do too much other than let him self-destruct. If he somehow survives, mock him constantly and challenge the Republicans for the craven support of the Conman Don.
GO BOLD OR BE RETIRED
The times cries out for bold progressive challenges and for fresh thinking. You have three strikes against you. First, your age, second your gender and third your past experience as a college professor. Can’t do anything about the first two, but you can run as a can do moderate progressive who knows how to get things done. The key is to make bold achievable goals. Then resist the temptation to campaign against Donald. The best thing we can all do is to mock him, and tell him time to retire, Grandpa Trump. Go home and play golf, we are tired of your rants, your incoherent tweets, your chaos. We need someone to clean up your messes. I’d start calling him Conman Don, or Loser Don, that will get under his skin and make him make mistakes which you can and should exploit…Make people want to vote for you as they share your vision of the possible future and make people feel that conman Donald Trump is indeed a conman looser who is not fit to be re-elected. .
Here are my suggested policy proposals.
I would put forth a series of comprehensive bold future-oriented policies and reiterate them every chance you get. You could call them Elizabeth’s Plan for the Future of America, or something along those lines. Maybe
“Let’s Boldly Go into the Future,”
“Make America Work Again”
“Rebuild America”
“Let’s Restore the American Dream’
But be big, bold, brassy, optimistic and challenge your opponents to produce a better plan or shut up and work with you to solve the nation’s problems.
Don’t Play Donald’s Game – Don’t Take the Bait
Don’t take whatever bait Trump throws out at you. Ignore his daily tweets. Let him destroy himself. He may be impeached or even removed from office or die of an heart attack. Just ignore him and play your own game. That’s the key to handling Trump. Ignore him, mock him, challenge him on how his plans will make America great. But play your game not his game.
Call for Free College Education Coupled with National Service Requirements.
Call for all Americans to serve three years in public service either in the military or in the government or NGO sector and in return, they will get four years of college paid for. For recent , they can serve and get their college debt forgiven. To those who say we can’t afford this, say we can’t afford to continue to put our college students in crippling debt they cannot afford. And everyone, especially the rich, should shoulder the burden of national service. and point out that shifting to a mandatory national service requirement would save the Pentagon money on salaries. the cost would be modest – minimum wage, housing, medical care and college tuition after their service. People would serve between age 18 and 25 one year of training and two years of service, with an optional second enlistment. Those who complete six years will get six years’ worth of tuition.
Also talk about how this would allow college to be truly affordable for all, and would eliminate crippling college debts. Students will gain solid work experience in service, travel, and training. the training could be transferred into college credit making college shorter perhaps three years instead of four for most people. And most importantly, shared national service will help restore America’s sense that this is our land, this land belongs to everyone. The rich and the poor alike. We are all in this together. We have lost sight of that. The military has become an army of paid mercenaries recruited from the lower classes. If everyone serves, there will be less temptation to send troops into harms way. This will be a win- win for everyone except for the student loan vultures.
I would bring most of the troops home and station them along the southern border where they could be used to help bolster border security, and assist as first responders to natural disaster. Sell this as a real border security not the fake wall fantasy that Trump is selling.
I would also call for two new national service academies to be set up. One would be for diplomatic and intelligence service, the other would be for law enforcement. These academies like the military academies including a coast guard academy, and beefing up the maritime service academy, would take only those who finished their military basis service. this would be a great way to restore our diplomatic corps and intelligence services as well as our law enforcement personnel.
Benefits of National Service
The service requirement would be managed by the corporation for public service which would also manage the Peace Corps, VISTA programs and teach for America which would all qualify as qualified national service.
Regarding the Peace corps, and the other volunteer service opportunities, set it up that people would do their college service, then do the peace corps afterwards. they would receive college tuition etc while attending college.
Most people will start college, or tech training institute, then do military or other service, and then return to college to finish their college. That is fine. Ensure that colleges will not only accommodate that but will also offer college credits for military and other on the job training acquired during national service. This would also cut the cost of college attendance for most people to a manageable three years instead of four to five years. And of course, ensure that people can go to technical training institutes instead of a traditional college as we really need to grow the next generation of technical workers as well.
After finishing basis service, those who wish to make a career of it could compete to become an NCO or an officer, and resume service after finishing college. And/or compete to enter government service for the Federal government or state and local government as well.
Call for The Green New Deal
Point out time and time again China, Germany, and other countries are building the green energy resources of the future while the U.S. which invented green energy is moving back to the 19th century. We invented green energy technology! And we should be the world’s leaders in making the transition to a green energy economy. Talk about jobs this will create, and talk about saving the world from the ravages of climate change. be bold call for a moonshot approach to building a completely green energy economy within ten years.
When critics say we can’t afford this, tell them we can’t afford to ruin the world for our children’s future. We can’t afford to continue burning fossil fuels. Climate change is real and the U.S. must lead the way forward. We should be the world leaders! That is what great nations do, lead the world in embracing change, in embracing the promise of the future. We can do no less. And when Trump and other climate change deniers talk nonsense, call them on their BS. Ask Trump doing the debates how does he know that climate change is not real? Has he ever studied climate change? Does he have a PHD in science? Is he smarter than 99% of the world’s scientists? Throw it at him, make him out to be the ignorant tool of the fossil fuel industry that he is. When he talks about bring back coal jobs, challenge him. Why would anyone want to work in a coal mine? It is dangerous work, and the mines are played out. We can transition the miners to new energy jobs that pay better, and are so much safer for the workers and the environment. If he goes on about wind power, point out how absurd his arguments are and how he does not know what he is talking about.
Call to Fix Obama Care
Point out time and time again that we still have a broken down too expensive too burdensome a health care system. Point out time and time again that we have the most expensive system in the world yet we are about 25th in terms of health care outcomes. No one in this land should fear going bankrupt if they need to get medical care. We can do this right and we must do it right.
I would acknowledge that Obama Care is not perfect and that if you had a chance to re-do it you would make it much less bureaucratic and less burdensome. But be proud of what the democrats accomplished. Promise to fix it and make it work.
One potential fix would be to open the Federal Health Care system to anyone who needs insurance and continue to provide subsidies to keep the premiums down.
Another option would be an expansion of Medicare so it covers about half the country
I would not make Medicare for all the goal for now. it is a step too far and too disruptive a change, and opens you up to all sorts of nonsense about socialism etc. .
I am a social democrat not a socialist
When the republicans attack you saying you are socialist, respond that you are a social democrat you want to make the system work for everyone and that you are in favor of capitalism as long as capitalism works for the people
When they say you want to turn the US into something like Norway, admit it. Say the European counties have got it right. No one in Europe goes bankrupt because of an illness, and everyone can afford college. What the hell is wrong with that? Why would you want to continue the health care system that is not working and the college debt trap?
When they say you want to turn the US into a Venezuela laugh at them. That is absurd on so many levels. Norway is not Venezuela. America is a capitalist society and there is nothing wrong with that but capitalism has to work for the people.
When Republicans proclaim that they will repeal Obamacare and replace it with something, call them on their bullshit. Demand to know the plan now or tell them to shut up and work with you to fix Obamacare.
if you do this right this could be a winning issue. But again, I’d avoid getting into the Medicare for all trap that the Republicans will try to push you into. And to avoid getting painted as out of touch socialist who will destroy the American way of life.
Call to repair our alliances
Declare that our allies are our allies and our friends and we will work with them to solve the world’s problems and restore American leadership. We will rejoin the Paris Climate Change and work to make sure it works. We will rejoin the Transpacific Partnership. We will treat China and Russia as rival powers, cooperate where we can, but stand up to them and make sure that their aggression does not stand.
Offer a New Deal to North Korea
We will continue to negotiate with the North Koreans, offering them a way towards reunification with South Korea and rejoining the world economic community. You can damn the President here with faint praise. Say that it was good that he took the initiative to break the log jam and talk to the North but due to his inexperience and his naivety he was unable to make a deal. You can finish the job.
Offer to Talk with The Iranians
Tell the Iranians we are ready to talk with them and want a new deal that would benefit them and the U.S. along the lines of what we are offering the North Koreans.
Bring the Troops Home
I would call for most U.S. troops to return to the U.S., where they will be posted along our borders and serve as adjunct border patrol agents and first responders as part of their mandatory new national service. Again, paint this as better way to ensure border security that the President’s absurd wall.
this would also involve cutting military spending, including privatizing the commissaries and PX systems. there is no real why the military should continue to run the 8th largest grocery chain in the world when the private sector can and should take on that responsibility. There are many other areas where the military budget can be reformed saving money.
Rebuild America
I would gradually reduce military spending and devote resources to rebuilding America’s crumbling infrastructure. This must include high-speed trains, and must include perhaps hyperloop technology or Maglev trains? And the next generation of airplanes as well. We must rebuild our mass transit systems. We must embrace the development of driverless vehicles.
Challenge the Republicans on their “you are weakening national security” BS. When the Republican scream you are weakening national security call them out on their BS.
Ask them how repositioning troops to help deal with national security issues at home weakens national security? How does going to universal military service weaken national security? How does getting out of endless wars weaken national security? How does closing a few bases in Europe weaken national security? Or closing a golf course? Or a commissary? Point out that we already spend more on national security than any other nation on earth. How does rebuilding America’s failed infrastructure weaken national security? Challenge them to produce a better plan.
Call for Comprehensive Immigration Reform
Start by acknowledging we need to improve security at the border but the wall is a waste of time and money that will not solve the problem. We need a comprehensive 21st century immigration policy that balances the need for continued immigration with the need to ensure that immigrants contribute to our country and enrich our country as they always have and always will. One area that I agree with the President on is that we should eliminate the F4 sibling visa category. Unlike the President though I would grandfather anyone in line and let them immigrate within two years then shut down this category entirely. I would also change the system so that prospective immigrants have basic English language skills. If you require it, they will learn English before applying and that would be better for them and the country. Finally, I would increase the number of skilled immigrant visa slots. I would cut the number of visa categories making the system much simpler. For non-immigrant visas there should be the following categories
Tourist/business visitors
Student and exchange visitors
Diplomatic visas
Temporarily work visas
All the various non-immigrant categories should be subsumed under one of these four rubrics.
For immigrant visas, I would shift to two categories – family based and employment base. I would eliminate the country by country preference system and allow as many immigrants to immigrate per year as warranted. The process should be streamlined so anyone who qualifies can immigrate within one year of applying providing that they speak English, have the required employment background or family relationship. Making a fraudulent application should result in a ten year ban on travel to the U.S. I would eliminate the Diversity visa lottery entirely as well. I would eliminate the public charge ineligibility but require family members to be financially responsible for immigrants once they arrive in the U.S.
I would also merge the consular service of the State department and the immigrant service of DHS into a new cabinet level department of immigration and consular services. The current system of three different agencies handling immigration is part of the broken system.
Challenge the Republicans to come up a better plan and work with you to implement it.
Call for A Return to Space Including Lunar Colonies and Martian Colonies
It is time for the U.S. to lead the world again in space exploration. Offer to lead the way in building lunar and Martian colonies with the participation of the world’s other space powers.
Call for The Legalization of Marijuana, Emptying the Prisons of Marijuana Offenders
End the endless war on drugs. Repeal marijuana prohibition. Empty the prisons of marijuana offenders. End the private prison for profit system. End the prison pipeline that sweeps up brown and black youths and sucks them into prison for life. Reserve prisons for the most dangerous offenders, all other prisoners should be sentenced to community service, drug treatment or other non-prison sentences. Use the money saved by closing prisons for rebuilding infrastructure.
Gun Control
I like your gun control proposals. It is a step forward. Continue to push for universal background checks.
Fully Support LGBT rights
Fully Support the religious freedom of all Americans including non-believers
Call for a Return to traditional American civil norms that Trump has so badly damaged
For VP Pick a Hispanic man
It is important that you pick a minority as your VP and pick a male as well to balance the ticket. Juan Castro would be a good pick, Major Pete perhaps, Beito perhaps, Cory perhaps. I would not pick Joe Biden = – he is really past his prime so to speak. Pick someone who can appeal to the minority voters, and pick a male VP. I think a two woman ticket might be a step too far.
You get my point by now. Be bold, inventive, optimistic, full of hope and energy and you will prevail. Make people share your bold vision. Be cautious, small-minded, narrowly focused, and all about how bad the Donald is, you will lose.
My advice, to sum up, is to make this a campaign about the future and your vision of the future. Paint your opponent Donald Trump as yesterday’s candidate, and mock him, calling on Grandpa Trump to retire to Florida and play golf. Depict him as senile, out of touch, and focused on returning America to the 19th Century. And call for progressive bold new ideas for the future of America. Be optimistic, be full of hope and good will.
Unfortunately mass shootings have become so common in the U.S. here are my “gun” poems written over the last few years. A few have been published.
I hope and pray that our political leaders will do something to solve the problem. the NRA’s position seems to be more guns for everyone is the solution. They are so wrong. the widespread availability of super lethal weapons is the problem. You simply can’t kill on a mass level with knives, or hammers, you need a high powered weapon designed to kill as many people as possible in the shortest time possible and you need to be so deranged that you want to kill as many people as possible in the shortest time possible.
universal background checks would help, treating guns like we treat cars would help. red flag laws would help. Guns should be registered, and owners should have to buy liability insurance. the Federal government should spend time and money studying the causes and prevention of gun violence. Buying back assault weapons would be a good idea as well.
I do agree with the NRA on one point, we should prosecute people who use guns in the commission of a crime and enforce all existing laws.
The beginning of tyranny
If only the Jews had guns
The holocaust would not have happened
Jesus would want us all
to be armed with machine guns
To protect us against the evil doers
It is the Christian thing to do
To blow away evil doers
With heavy arms
In America
Land of the free
Home of the brave
We can’t do anything
At all
About the mass carnage
Unleashed by madmen with guns
Who walk among us
Searching for their next victims
Any restriction of the right
To bear arms
Is tyranny at its worst
The nanny state run amuck
Talking about gun control
After a tragic event Is
just not the appropriate time
We only need prayers
and meaningless thoughts
Universal background checks
Too onerous
Registering guns
Too burdensome
Researching gun violence
waste of tax payer money
banning military style assault weapons
restricts my right to blow away
Bambi the deer
with a M16
the NRA will keep talking
talking and talking
preventing anything
from being done
and we will have another
Mass shooting event
Before the day is out
So my plead
This day
To the NRA A
and their stoogies
Talk is cheap
Your comments
Are not helping
If you can’t
Be a part of the solution
Just stop talking
Please stop talking
And let the rest
Of us figure out
How to stop
The madness in the streets
And stop the carnage
So NRA
Please just stop talking Now
More Guns for Everyone in the World
The NRA has decided
That the best solution to global problem
Of rampant violence and crime everywhere
Is for the rest of the world
To become like the U.S.
Where anyone can buy a gun
As an armed society is a polite society’
And so the President is about to announce
A global campaign against gun control restrictions
As these restrictions are an undue burden
On the rights of the US arms manufactures
To sell their guns everywhere in the world
As everyone wants what we have to sell
The best weapons in the world
Instead of trying to limit the damage
That unrestricted gun sales
Have done to the U.S.
Our President, our great leader
Wants to sell more guns
Everywhere in the world
And there are eager buyers
Lining up around the world
Eager to buy the best guns
The world has ever seen
We want to export
The gun madness
That has infected our society
Leaving behind so many dead bodies
The dead were not consulted
For they remain dead
They do not vote
They have no voice
For the guns silenced
them for good
just as the guns intended
Just doing their gun thing after all
Humanity has evolved
From stones to arrows
To guns
To nuclear, biological weapons
And the U.S.
While proclaiming itself
A champion of Human Rights
Remains nothing but a country
Of gun runners
Merchants of death
And destruction
Trump Administration Advances Plan to Relax Gun-Export Rules
The Trump administration on Monday advanced a long-sought-after plan to relax export rules for American small arms, including semiautomatic rifles, handguns, and sniper rifles.
In a private briefing with members of Congress, State Department officials outlined a proposed rule change that would transfer oversight of gun exports to the Department of Commerce. The proposed rule will be published in the Federal Register later this week, where it will be subject to public comment for 45 days. While it is unlikely, Congress could block the change using powers under the Congressional Review Act.
The shift, which was first proposed by the Obama administration in 2012, is championed by gunmakers who say it will make them more competitive in the international market. Critics argue an export policy that favors commercial interests could put the national security of the United States at risk or harm diplomatic efforts.
“Weakened Congressional oversight of international small arms and munitions sales is extremely hazardous to global security,” said Senator Ben Cardin of Maryland, a Democrat who serves on the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, in an emailed statement. “This decision is also politically tone-deaf as our nation reckons with a gun violence epidemic.”
A State Department spokesman said that the change would ease the regulatory burden on American gun makers and allow them to compete better globally.
Currently, the Department of State monitors exports of nearly all weapons through the U.S. Munitions List. Since 2002, the department has been required to notify Congress of overseas sales of firearms worth more than $1 million.
In 2016, the State Department alerted the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to a proposed sale of more than 26,000 rifles to the Philippines. Cardin at the time objected to arming the regime of PhilippinePresident Rodrigo Duterte, who had inaugurated a wave of thousands of extrajudicial killings as part of a crackdown on drugs. The weapons deal was canceled as a result.
The proposed rule change would transfer control over the sale of small arms to the Commerce Control List, and Congress would no longer be notified of large purchases.
Some arms control experts say reduced oversight could provide criminals, terrorists, or hostile states an opportunity to purchase American weapons.
Under Department of Commerce weapon-export rules, “companies aren’t required to provide as much information about brokers or shipping” as they must under State Department supervision, said Colby Goodman, who examines American weapons exports as director of the Security Assistance Monitor program at the Center for International Policy in Washington. “The world of firearms exports is full of questionable, dubious characters.”
The rule change has been long in the making. It was first proposed in 2012 by the Obama administration, but abandoned shortly after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. At the time, the Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security criticized the change because it could make it easier for transnational criminal organizations or terrorists to get American-made guns.
In September, Reuters reported that the Trump administration was interested in reviving the rule change to encourage more international arms sales. With the formal commencement of the public comment period, the preparation has become a policy reality.
In April, the Trump administration said it would now consider economic factors in addition to security when it comes to selling American weapons overseas.
The Trump administration has argued that the change would aid the domestic gun industry by cutting down on export regulation. American consumer sales of firearms have suffered since the 2016 election. After years of elevated sales in anticipation of possible new gun-control measures imposed by Democratic lawmakers, domestic demand subsided as Republicans took full control of the federal government.
– ALEX YABLON
Virgina Beach
In a night of horrific scumbagery violence
Rarely seen in this jaded age of ours
Gone in one hour
In a spasm of horrific scumbagery violence
In just a few short minutes
Nothing more than that
In just a few moments
All 12 victims were murdered
By a disgruntled employee
Every one he knew was shot
And killed for no reason
Caused by the demons
His soul was so infected
Murderous demonic voices
All in his head
Screaming kill them all kill them all
Screaming none stop violence in his head
All the time
Causing him to start shooting everyone he saw
Regardless of who they were or where they were
Everyone must die screamed the demonic voices in his head
No one can be left alive
Everyone must die
Virtually all must die in his internal video game
Everyone must die
Regardless of who they were or where they were
Again just another day
Gone horribly wrong
All across America
In every town
No where is safe anymore
Virgina Beach massacre
Virgina Beach massacre
Just another
Average night in America
An Active Shooter
scumbagery violence
Rarely seen
in this jaded wild world
Gone in one hour
In a spasm of horrific
scumbagery
In just a less than 30 short minutes
Nothing more than
In just a few short 30 moments
All the victims
were murdered while at their daily work
wrong place wrong time
act of a demotic deranged madman
voices screaming Kill
The voices scream death to all humans
All must be killed
The voices scream over and over
All must die now
Just another night in America
Home of the free
It’s a Gun Situation, Mr. President
Mr. President
You are wrong once again
You said that the tragic events in Texas
And Las Vegas were not “gun situations”
But rather were mental health problems
And that in Texas if there had been gun controls
Perhaps fewer people would have died
Mr. President
I know you a smart man
The smartest man in the world
According to you
So please contemplate this fact
According to the latest findings
It is a gun situation
In fact, the reason the U.S.
Has so many gun deaths
Is because we have so many guns
45% of the worlds guns in fact
And 33 percent of the world’s shooters
Are Americans killing other Americans
And most of them the majority of them
Are White People killing other people
Not Islamic terrorists
Most are in fact
Self-proclaimed Christians
So Mr. President
When will you come to your senses
And do what 90 percent of the public wants
Enact nation wide effective gun controls?
And tell the NRA
they can take their blood money elsewhere
When Mr. President
When will you act
When will you take charge
And become a President of the people
Instead of the President of the NRA?
I want to tell you something
The dead don’t want your prayers
The dead don’t care that you pray for them
They are dead after all
And you and your so-called Christians
Are to blame
You refuse to do anything
Anything at all to stop the carnage
In our streets
The U.S. is flooded with guns
And more are sold every day
Millions of people don’t have health coverage
Millions are barely surviving
And your answer
Our dear great compassionate Speaker
Your answer
Is Prayer works
Government action does not
You act as if the gun violence
Plaguing our country
Was like the weather
Beyond our control
So here’s my prayer for you
And your colleagues
When you die
I pray that God
Will send you
And your friends
Straight to hell
Where Satan and his demons
Will use you for target practice
That’s my prayer to you
And as you know
Prayer works
I don’t Get It
Mr. Speaker
I admit I don’t get it
How does prayer
Stop gun violence?
Prayer did not work in Texas.
26 people were murdered
while praying.
God if he exists
Obviously does not care
About the poor people
Who died in his church
Because a mad man
Got a gun
And no they were not praying
To be delivered from death
No one deserves to die like this
So my prayer to you
Is simply this
Get off your rear end
Rally the country
And do something
About gun violence
That’s a prayer
I hope works
Add House Speaker Paul Ryan to the list of Republicans offering only thoughts and prayers in the wake of Sunday’s mass shooting in a Texas church, because taking meaningful action is always off the table with him and his party.
Speaking with Fox News Channel’s Laura Ingraham last night, Ryan reiterated that the victims and their families need more prayers because “prayer works.”
Prayer doesn’t work.
26 people were murdered while praying. Even Christians ought to admit that prayer doesn’t make a damn bit of difference and their God will do whatever their God wants to do, even if it means letting people die in church because a domestic abuser got his hands on a semi-automatic weapon.
Not that Ryan would ever say that.
Instead, he just blamed the “far secular Left” for not getting it.
Seoul and DC opened their subways in 1974. I rode both for the first time in 1979.Both had about the same number of stations five or six stations on one line. What adifference 45 years has made. Seoul has build a world class subway system with over 600 stations stretching over 200 miles, while DC has build five lines and many people consider it to be among the worst subway systems in the world. I rode both for the first time in 1979 and I have been riding both ever since. I love the Seoul Metro and am glad that it has become one of the best subways in the world and I am very disappointed at the deterioration of the DC subway system and concur in the opinion that is now one of the worst mass transit systems in the world.
Seoul World Class System in 45 Years
45 years later since opening in 1974, the Seoul city subway has grown to be one of the biggest subway system in the world with 19 lines over 600 station stretching over 200 miles connecting many outlining cities too so as part of one integrated mass transit system. it is fast efficient cheap safe and most people in the soul metro area live within a half a mile ofa station. there are five more lines being planned and build. By 2025 there will be over 700 stations. The signs are bilingual and all announcements are in four languages and are very clear. Each subway station has a has a TV screen for stop announcements in four languages – Korean, Japanese, Chinese and EnglishThe fair machines operate in four languages as well.The subway attendance all speak some English and are very helpful and friendly. Every subway stop has clean restrooms. Every station has services and restaurants a number of stations featuring long underground shopping malls. The metro system makes so much money in renting shops and servicesand advertising that the fares are heavily subsided. You can pay by phone, credit card or T transit card. The trains are very clean and people can eat on the train without fear of being arrested. Close to 70% use the train frequently . The trains are safe, violent crime is unheard of, and there has never been a derailment or serious accident. and the trains are repaired quickly, maintenance is never neglected.Foreign visitors love the system and use it frequently as it is quite foreigner friendly. Ridership at night is quite strong due to newly imposed strict drunk driving laws.
DC Metro a Broken System
Contrast that with the DC Metro.The DC Metro has five lines about 125 stations and will finally connect to the Dulles Airport next year, 50 years after first planning to extend to the airport. the system was planned before the dramatic development of suburban Virginia and Maryland and the system does not serve the suburban areas very well as the majority of the train stations are in DC, or Arlington county. Because there is only one tunnel under the river trains to Virginia are forced to use one tunnel making it difficult to schedule trains.The train are expensive, overcrowded, dangerous and only about 25% of the region are within a one mile walk to the a train stations. there have been a number of derailments, fires, and violent attacks on the subway. It takes months to repair the escalators which are frequently broken. The stations do not have restrooms or any service and is against the law to eat or drink on the train.The Subway has just added Wifi,You can not pay by phone, or credit card.The loudspeaker system is very poor and most of the time you cannot hear the announcement; announcements are only in English, and occasionally Spanish. The subway fare machines are also only in English.The cost to use the metro is about 10 times the cost of using the Seoul Metro, in recent years, a number of stations have been taken off-line for repairs.The attendants are not friendly or helpful. Only ten percent of the public use the metro but half of tourists use the metro. and the metro is confusing and foreigner unfriendly.
What Accounts for the Difference in Outcomes?
What accounts for these different outcomes for systems that were build in the same year?
Political Will to Construct a World Class System in Seoul
First and foremost the Korean government put money, effort and political will into buildinga modern world class transportation and infrastructure most of the cost of the metro comes through rental revenues and advertisement income.Less than 10 % comes from fares because the government subsidizes fares to keepthe cost of using the system very reasonable to ensure larger ridership.
Second in Korea public domain laws are very strong and it is almost impossible to block extensions of either subways or freeway system and there would be no support for blocking construction. In fact there is strong support for continuing expanding the system and five more lines are under planning or construction when the system is completed in a few years it will be perhaps this second largest system in the world.
Third there is no requirements for environmental impact assessments or other regulatory burdens that make it difficult to build public infrastructure in the United States
Forth there is broad public support for Government investment in infrastructure.
Fifth the subway system is managed very efficiently. There are actually four Corporation involved but coordination it’s very well-done and the user does not even know that there are four corporations involved, for the user there is only one system.Transfers between different lines is easy as there are always underground passageways connecting the different lines.
Finally and most importantly, everyone uses the metro, even the wealthy use the system from time to time,It is truly a mass transit system for the benefit of the public.
Contrast this with the DC Metro Experience – lack of political will to construct and maintain a world class system
The DC Metro generates about half of revenues through fares,There is no rental income, but some advertisement income and parking fee income as well. . Keeping fares low was never a priority for the system. There is no dedicated funding.The system is run jointly by DC ,Virginia, Maryland and the federal government and they don’t often agree on fundamental issues, and no one is really in charge. Lack of funding especially no rental income and marginal ad revenue and parking revenues, has always meant that the system neglected maintenance to the point that they have to rebuild the system station by stationat a very high cost.The constant construction has resulted in many riders fleeing the system, leading to decreased revenues and the need to increase fares due to the shortage of fare income.In many respects the DC metro system is a perfect case study of how not to manage a large transit system whereas the Seoul system is a poster child for proper transit system management.
Second although there is support for the Metro among residents of DC there is not that much support in the outer suburbs and congressman from rural areas are hostile to spending tax dollars to support public transit improvements as it does not benefit their constituents.Due to Gerrymandering and the requirement that each state has two Senators, rural interests are vastly over represented in congress. Related to this is the widespread feeling that all government spending is somehow bad, and that the private sector will and should solve all problems. The Republican party is also committed to keeping taxes as low as possible especially for the rich donor class, and starving the federal government of needed funds for such things as infrastructure improvements. and will not consider raising taxes today for infrastructure especially mass transit. There is a wide spread feeling that transit systems should be funded entirely through fares, while freeways should be kept free to users.
Only Losers Use Public Transit
Since so few people actually use the system, and there is a widespread feeling that only lower class people use the system, there is little political support for the system which is used by other people.Or as Homer Simpson said once, “only losers ride the bus.” Unfortunately the view is widespread in the U.S.As a result, US infrastructure has been consistently rated a D- grade by the American Association for Civil Engineering. a
Government Quit Investing in Infrastructure Starting in the late 70’s
Related to this the government starting in the 1980s quit making investments in public infrastructure and the cost to rebuildAmerican infrastructure will exceed $3 trillion. There is no political well to cut bloated defense and national security spending to devote to rebuilding infrastructure nor is there any willingness to raise taxes to pay for infrastructure investments.
Third environmental regulations, legal restrictions and the NIMBY ( Not in my backyard) feeling makes planning and funding infrastructure very difficult.
Fourth the system was not planned out very well there’s no equivalent to the number two line circular line and transferring between stations is difficult . There is one station where two lines come together about a half a mile apart but there is no underground passageway connecting the two lines. When the system was planned in the late 60’s, most people commuted to jobs in the district or in Arlington county.No one anticipated the rapid development of Fairfax, London and Prince William counties in Virgina and suburban Maryland as well. Thus the stations no longer go where people need to go.
Kissinger Moved the Metro from the State Department Fearing Some One Would Bomb the State Department
An interesting anecdote is that the original planwas for a Metro stop under the State Department with an underground passageway to the Kennedy Center .Kissinger felt that someone might blow up the State Department ordered the line to be relocated 3/4 mile away, andan underground passage way to the Kennedy center was never built.
The plan station in Georgetownwas block by opposition from mostly white locals who were afraid too many black undesirables would be able to easily get to Georgetown.
Finally because the metro is divided between three statesand the federal government and no one is really charge it is very difficult to manage the system. This is compounded by the lack of dedicated funding and no rental income. All of which makes it difficult to keep up on maintenance or to expand the system which needs to be done. The DC metro area has grown to over 7 million people and is close to NYC in population density without the transit and other infrastructure to support such a large population.
Recommendations for DC Metro
My recommendations to the DC metro system is to ask for dedicated funding, to open retail services in all stations in order to the increase revenues and ridership. Add restrooms to each station.Lift the ban on eating and drinking on the trains.Fix the announcement system and make all announcements in English, Spanish and perhaps Chinese?make the fare boxes trilingual as well.
Reorganize the system to become the Metropolitan Metro authority with authority over the trains, the bus systems and the commuter railroads. An advisory committee consisting of representatives of DC, Maryland, Virginia, the Federal Government, riders and employees would advise the board.
Expand or Die
The DC metro needs to dramatically expand the number of stations, doubling the number of stations within ten years and expanding the system all the way to Quantico in Virginia and all the way to Baltimore where it would connect to the Baltimore transit system. They also need to construct another tunnel under the river.
the Metro system needs to develop an ambitious plan to double the number of station within ten years including building a new tunnel underground river under the Potomac River and building two Circular lines, an inner line and an outer line, perhaps on top of 495, 395 and 295, (Note: Seoul needs to build an outer circular line as well end note)
. One line would go down to Quantico, going through Ford Belvoir, another line should connect Springfield to Tysons anda final line should be constructed along Columbia Pike and Little River Turnpike. in Maryland I would build a line along Rockville Pike, and build a line connecting Colombia to Baltimore connecting with the Baltimore metro system.
Visit Seoul for Inspiration and to Learn How to Do it Right
I would recommend sending a team to theSeoul City metro system to study how they created such a world class metro system and learn from their success. There is no reason to reinvent the wheel and I’m sure the Seoul Metro staff would love to give you the benefit of their success.
the writer, a retired US diplomat living inYeongjongdo first rode both systems in 1979 and has used both systems over the years.He is very pleased at the development of the Seoul system into one of the best in the world, and very disappointed in the deterioration of the DC Metro over the same time period.
additional comments November 22, 2019
Dream 10,236 Metro pet Peeves
My top pet peeves for the DC metro are
not enough stations should be at least double
no restrooms
no services.In Korea, Japan, China the metro pay for themselves out of rental income as every station ismini-shopping mall, or has offices and housing built on land owned by the metroA major source of revenue. In DC metro only a few stations are build that way.
4. No food or drink on the station
5. discriminatory enforcement of this rule seems only black and brown teenagers are arrested, white people and foreign visitors are warned
6. lack of signage advising people to stand on the right, walk on the left
7. people who don’t stand on the right, walk on the left
8.lack of connections between nearby stations.why Farragut West and Farragut North don’t have an underground connection is beyond me.
9. serious lack of signage throughout the system
10. loudspeakers that no one can hear
11. inaccurate signage re next train coming
12.total lack of communication where they is a problem
13.constant repair work
14.why does it take months to repair the escalators?
15.Why don’t they get rid of the escalator except in a few stations?
16.total lack of planning for planned disruptions.Last summer it took four hours to get home from a base ball game because Metro had not provided enough shuttle buses at the Pentagon station.
17.total lack of planning for unplanned disruptions.when that occurs, lots of luck getting on the proverbial shuttle bus that never come
18 god help us if there is a terrorist incident
19. violent disruptive passenger everywhere
20.muggings at night
21. coyote attacks
22.lack of coordination between different transit providers – it should be one system
23. too damn expensive
24. too slow
25.Does not go everywhere
Dream10, 237 Seoul Metro Pet Peeve
top pet peeves for Seoul metro?
why does the ARA stop at Geoman station only why not go to the airport every time? Makes no sense.
same thing for the other lines. why not just run them to the end stations? would be a lot easier to do
deceptive signs for bathrooms – indicating that they are on the other door of the elevator only to find that there are no restrooms there
restrooms only available inside the paid area
Dream DC 10,238 Metro Expansion Plans
the DC metro system needs to be expanded perhaps doubled in size.Here are some of the proposed extensions all of which have considerable merit and should be expedited
One thing that metro should consider and I am amazed that they are not is building on every site commercial establishments making each station a mini-shopping destination.this would provide Metro with tremendous rental income allowing Metro to pay for most of its expansion without incurring additional costs or tax subsidies and would allow Metro to keep fares low.
such mini-station developments are a key feature of the success of the Korean, Japanese and Chinese metro systems.
WMATA expects an average of one million riders daily by 2030. The need to increase capacity has renewed plans to add 220 cars to the system and reroute trains to alleviate congestion at the busiest stations.[189] Population growth in the region has also revived efforts to extend service, build new stations, and construct additional lines.
The most prominent expansion is the Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project, dubbed the Silver Line, a 23-mile (37 km) extension from the Orange Line into Loudoun County, Virginia, by way of Tysons Corner and Washington Dulles International Airport. Rail to Dulles has been discussed since the system opened in 1976. The current Silver Line project was formally proposed in 2002 and initially approved by the Federal Transit Administration in 2004.[190] After several delays, federal funding for Phase 1 was secured in December 2008[191] and construction began in March 2009.[192] The line is being constructed in two phases; the first phase to Wiehle–Reston East in Reston, Virginia opened July 26, 2014,[193] and the second phase to Ashburn, beyond Dulles Airport, is projected for completion in 2020.[194]
In 2008 officials began to explore the possibility of adding an infill station called Potomac Yard in the Potomac Yard area of Alexandria, on the Blue and Yellow Lines between the National Airport and Braddock Road stations. In 2010 the Alexandria City Council approved a portion of the proposed $240 million construction of the station. Construction would start in 2019 and the station is expected to open in 2021.[195]
The original plan called for ten “future extensions” on top of the core system. The Red Line would have been extended from the Rockville station northwest to Germantown, Maryland. The Green Line would have been lengthened northward from the Greenbelt station to Laurel, Maryland, and southward from the Branch Avenue station to Brandywine, Maryland. The Blue Line initially consisted of a southwestern branch to Backlick Road and Burke, Virginia, which was never built. The Orange Line would have extended westward through Northern Virginia past the Vienna station, and northeastward past New Carrollton to Bowie, Maryland. Alternatively, the Blue Line would have been extended east past Largo Town Center to Bowie. The future Silver Line was also included in this proposal.[16]
In 2001, officials considered realigning the Blue Line between Rosslyn and Stadium–Armory stations by building a bridge or tunnel from Virginia to a new station in Georgetown. Blue Line trains share a single tunnel with Orange Line and Silver Line trains to cross the Potomac River. The current tunnel limits service in each direction, creating a choke point.[196] The proposal was later rejected due to cost,[197] but Metro again started considering a similar scenario in 2011.[198]
In 2005 the Department of Defense announced that it would be shifting 18,000 jobs to Fort Belvoir in Virginia and at least 5,000 jobs to Fort Meade in Maryland by 2012, as part of that year’s Base Realignment and Closure plan. In anticipation of such a move, local officials and the military proposed extending the Blue and Green Lines to service each base. The proposed extension of the Green Line could cost $100 million per mile ($60 million per kilometer), and a light rail extension to Fort Belvoir was estimated to cost up to $800 million. Neither proposal has established timelines for planning or construction.[199][200]
The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) announced on January 18, 2008, that it and the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation (DRPT) had begun work on a draft environmental impact statement (EIS) for the I-66 corridor in Fairfax and Prince William counties. According to VDOT the EIS, officially named the I-66 Multimodal Transportation and Environment Study, would focus on improving mobility along I-66 from the Capital Beltway (I-495) interchange in Fairfax County to the interchange with U.S. Route 15 in Prince William County. The EIS also allegedly includes a four-station extension of the Orange Line past Vienna. The extension would continue to run in the I-66 median and would have stations at Chain Bridge Road, Fair Oaks, Stringfellow Road and Centreville near Virginia Route 28 and U.S. Route 29.[201] In its final report published June 8, 2012, the study and analysis revealed that an “extension would have a minimal impact on Metrorail ridership and volumes on study area roadways inside the Beltway and would therefore not relieve congestion in the study corridor.”[202]
In 2011 Metro began studying the needs of the system through 2040. WMATA subsequently published a study on the alternatives, none of which were funded for planning or construction.[198][203] New Metro rail lines and extensions under consideration as part of this long term plan included:
Before construction on Metro began, a proposed station was put forward for the Kennedy Center. Congress had already approved the construction of a station on the Orange/Blue/Silver Lines at 23rd and H Streets, near George Washington University, at the site of what is now Foggy Bottom station. According to a Washington Post article from February 1966, rerouting the line to accommodate a station under the Center would cost an estimated $12.3 million.[204] The National Capital Transportation Agency‘s administrator, Walter J. McCarter, suggested that the Center “may wish to enhance the relationship to the station by constructing a pleasant, above-ground walkway from the station to the Center,” referring to the soon-to-be-built Foggy Bottom station. Rep. William B. Widnall, Republican of New Jersey, used it as an opportunity to push for moving the Center to a central, downtown location.[205]
The 2011 Metro transit-needs study identified five additional sites where infill stations could be built. These included Kansas Avenue and Montgomery College on the Red Line, respectively in Northwest D.C. and Rockville, Maryland; Oklahoma Avenue on the Blue, Orange, and Silver Lines near the D.C. Armory in Northeast D.C.; Eisenhower Valley on the Blue Line in Alexandria, Virginia; and the St. Elizabeths Hospital campus on the Green Line in Southwest D.C.[203]:11
A number of light rail and urban streetcar projects have been proposed to extend or supplement service provided by Metro. Like the Silver Line in Virginia, the proposed Purple Line has been in planning since the 1980s.[206] The project was originally envisioned as a circular heavy rail line connecting the outer stations on each branch of the Metrorail system, in a pattern roughly mirroring the Capital Beltway.[207] The current proposal would create a light rail system in Maryland between the Bethesda and New Carrollton stations by way of Silver Spring and College Park. Such a plan would connect both branches of the Red Line to the Green and Orange Lines, and would decrease the travel time between suburban Metro stations.[206][208]
The Corridor Cities Transitway (CCT) is a proposed 15-mile (24 km) bus rapid transit line that would link Clarksburg, Maryland, in northern Montgomery County with the Shady Grove station on the Red Line.[209] Assuming that the anticipated federal, state, and local government funds are provided, construction of the first 9 miles (14 km) of the system would begin in 2018.[210]
In 2005, a Maryland lawmaker proposed a light rail system to connect areas of Southern Maryland, especially the rapidly growing area around the town of Waldorf, to the Branch Avenue station on the Green Line.[211]
The District of Columbia Department of Transportation is building the new D.C. Streetcar system to improve transit connectivity within the District. A tram line to connect Bolling Air Force Base to the Anacostia station and was originally expected to open in 2010. Streetcar routes have been proposed in the Atlas District, Capitol Hill, and the K Street corridor.[212] After seven years of construction, the Atlas District route, known as the H/Benning Street route, opened on February 27, 2016.[213]
In 2013, the Georgetown Business Improvement District proposed a gondola lift between Georgetown and Rosslyn as an alternative to placing a Metro stop at Georgetown in its 2013–2028 economic plans.[214] Washington, D.C and Arlington County have been conducting feasibility studies for it since 2016.[214]
Dream 10,239 Seoul Metro Expansion Plans
Some possible metro extensions I’d love to see
extending the gold line to Ganghwa island
extending a line down Ganghwa and over to the airport
extending the Maglev across Yeongjongdo and linking Changha international city and Songdo
theuijeongbu LRT Should be extended to Nowon
A line should be built between Songdo and the International Airport, and Kimpo airport as well
the maglev around the island project needs to be accelerated
the maglev in Incheon city should be operated as a rapid transit line not just as a novelty for tourists.
the ARA should be extended to Muido with the terminus the beaches at the end of the island with two other stops on the island and one stop before Youngju station. The maglev should be extended to the beaches
the maglev should be extended to Songdo. In the meantime a RTBline should be set up
the planned bridge to Change should be accelerated and include a subway line or Maglev line
the planned bride to Ganghwa should be expanded to include maglev or subway lines
the gold line should be extended to Ganghwa
Line 3,4,5,6.7, 8 and 9 lines should be extended on both ends
Other possible extensions include extending a line south to Sejong City and Taejon.
Finally an outer loop ring line should be consorted as well linking the end lines of many of the lines
From the climate change agreement
Giving the proverbial finger
To 195 world leaders
And ignoring the personal appeal
Of the G7 and the Pope
Making America Great
By making America all alone
In its growing irrelevance
As the world leaders turn away
From dealing with the US
And we have gone past the tipping point
There is nowhere left to go
But downward
As the Empire begins to collapse
Victim of imperial overreach
Like all empires before
The DC metro on a good day
Is a broken-down remnant
Of a once proud system
On a bad day
It is an accident that happens
Over and over again
Killing and maiming people
The future of mass transit
Its proponents said
The interstate highway system
Is falling apart day by day
Our bridges are falling down
Our transit is a world joke
The cost of rebuilding America mounts
And our politicians are afraid
That it will cost trillions of dollars
Just to prevent the US from collapsing
Into third world irrelevance
And our idiot president’s answer
Is to sell our highways and bridges
To the highest foreign bidder
Treating the US as just another failed company
Ready to be stripped for cash and profits
By the vulture capitalists who took over the government
We have the world’s most expensive military
A million dollars per missile
And yet we can’t find the money
To provide decent health care for all
Bombs and tax cuts for the wealthy
Are the only things
That the Republicans care about
And the world looks in amazement
At the clown boy President
As he struts about
Looking more and more
Like some Banana Republic
President for life
With his family grabbing as much loot
As they can
From the federal government
Before the coming revolution
Overthrows them
When did we start this decline?
Some say 1960s started it
Others say Nixon’s to blame
Others claim that it was Carter’s fault
Or Saint Reagan’s fault
Or the other boy President GW Bush
Or Obama the fake American’s fault
Does it really matter
All I know
Is the America I knew
The can do anything country
The country that went to the moon
Is alas no more
And I morn for our lost liberties
Our lost sense of purpose
Our lost sense that America
Was the last great hope of Mankind
And still I wonder
Can America be made great again?
As our President Trump proclaims
The end times approaches
Nuclear war is talked about
Another missile crisis
And instead of JFK leading the country
We have Donald John Trump
The one and only
The greatest con man
To ever get elected
And I fear the end is in sight
As America begins its decline
Will we be one country
Or will we erupt into a civil war
Can we survive
Two nations divided
Into the red and blue camps
The coastal elites and multiethnic cities
And Jesus land in the rural hinterlands
And the deep south remains apart
The right claims that the left has started it
And the left claims that the right has started it
And both sides claim that the civil war
Is inevitable
A fight for the future of our country
Will we go back to the mythical past
When white men ruled the land
And women and minorities knew their place
And gays stayed in the closet?
Or will we embrace a progressive future
With an economy that works for all
And a world in which there is no ethnic majority anymore
And women and men are equal
And the GLBT community has full rights
I have no answer
It seems the end is coming
Sooner than we think
As Emperor Trump leads us
Down a dark, strange dangerous path
And so, it goes
The decline of empires
And I pray
That I may survive
The end of times
Suburban Laundromat
– thanks to Don Teeter for the inspiration
from a FB posting
Suburban Laundromat Scenes
Suburban laundromat
Anywhere USA
I often go to a suburban laundromat
Near my suburban apartment
I can sit in my car
Listen to jazz, classical or blues
On my car’s radio
And watch my machine
Doing its suburban laundry duty
Just spinning and spinning and cleaning
Doing its thing its laundry thing
The neighborhood is anywhere USA
Strip malls, apartment houses, townhouses
A fire station, a police station
Banks, cell phone shops
Restaurants from around the world
At the parking lot’s edge
As I approach I notice
Gentlemen of the off-grid class
Sitting among their Hogs
Stoned off the semi legal weed
Smiling at me
With an I don’t give a fuck attitude
That is somewhat contagious
They tell stories
Paranoid ramblings
Containing a kernel of truth
As they watch their clothes
Like a hawk
The clothes spin and spin and spin
As the laundry machine does its laundry thing
The machines don’t care about what we humans think
They just do their duty as the man says
Across the old run down boulevard
The light rail line uses a right of way
That dates to the mid 1850’s
An old Indian game trail perhaps
That the white man turned into the first road
In these parts
People come and go
Some in cars
Some on foot
People from all over the world
Speaking languages from everywhere
But all understand English to some extent
And many understand Spanish to some extent
I feel everyone is united
Chiefly by their transience
And think back on old Latin saying
Sic transit Gloria mundi
And wonder if these are the end days
And ask the laundry machine
What does it think
The laundry machine pauses
Seems to think
And looks at me
Almost saying
WTF do you think
A laundry machine knows?
And so, I gather my items
Nod to the regulars
Who interrupt their endless paranoid arguments
Acknowledging my existence
And I stumble back
To my suburban apartment
Truly paradise on earth
Where am I going to?
Rambling man
Where are you going to?
When will you settle down
Last summer I drove across the country
31 States
Ten national parks
10,000 miles
Saw fly over country
DC
Virginia spent the night at Ft Lee
North Carolina
South Carolina
Georgia spent the night at naval base
Florida spent five days at AFB in Tampa
Florida Tallahassee spend the night
Alabama spent the night in Birmingham
Arkansas spent the night in Hot Springs
lost
money
Mississippi
Missouri
Oklahoma spent the night in Midwest city
Texas spent the night in Amarillo
New Mexico spent the night in Albuquerque lost money
Arizona stopped by the side of the road in Winslow
Drove part of route 66
Nevada Las Vegas lost money
Nevada Reno lost money
Nevada Topanah lost money
Northern California
Oregon Ashland stayed a month
Oregon spent night in small town
Drove down highway 395 loneliest highway in the US
Idaho spent the night in Burl
Wyoming spent five days in Grand Tetons
South Dakota Rapid City
Minnesota spent the night in the twin city’s saw the Mall of America
Illinois Chicago Yeah
Indiana nowhere villa
Wisconsin Madison nice town
Ohio spent the night outside Columbus
Pennsylvania Pittsburgh
West Virginia
Virginia
DC
Then back to Korea
Next year will go to Washington State, Montana, Idaho and down to Zion Canyon
Looking Out My Window
I look out my window
On the parking lot
And see the mad cat
That lives underneath
the apartment house
And look out at the park
Thinking of taking a walk
The cat looks at me
Kindred spirits perhaps
Retired waiting to die
Lost and Found
I was lost
And you found me
You walked out of my dreams
And into my life
And that made all the difference
In the world
As you entered my life
I was all alone in this cruel world
And you provided shelter
And comfort
I did not know what I wanted
And you gave me what I wanted
You gave me meaning
You gave me purpose
You gave me love
And understanding
peace and happiness
Joy, laughter and fun
You were endlessly fascinating
Could not keep my eyes off of you
You were the most beautiful women
In the world to me
And you still are
So many years later
Like a fine bottle of wine
Gets better with age
And you gave me
Endless nights of wild love making
Which has gotten better
As well
And I fell under your spell
from the day I met you
I was lost
And you found me
And if you go first
I will be lost again
Can’t live without you
By my side
Thus is has always been
Between us
We are so entangled
So interwoven
And that is the way
It was meant to me
Incheon 2016
I live in Incheon
Part of the 3 million people who live here
Mostly Koreans
90,000 foreigners though live here too
My apartment is next to a park
And I walk almost daily in the mountains
Losing myself in the hills
Overlooking the airport
The town has lots of restaurants
Places too go
Things to do
And the airport is next door
Soon there will be a casino complex opening up
As they turn this quiet suburban village
Into a Mini-Las Vegas
Complete with a strip
Can’t wait
Going to Seoul is a snap
50 minutes on the train
And I am there
Wherever I want to be
Korea is turning out to be
A good place to live
So much better
Than it was when I first arrived in 1979
And it was grim back then
Now it is the toast of Asia
And for that I am glad
Rapid City No Where
Summer 2016
We drove across the country
Just the wife and me
10,000 miles
31 states
Three months on the road
I now know why people don’t live
In South Dakota
Hot, dry dusty
Windy as hell
Black Hills are nice
But after seeing Mt. Rushmore
There is not much left to do
Rapid City did not impress me
Nor did Sioux Falls
And wall drugs
Well the free water was nice
But it is a nothing town
In a nothing state
On the edge of the badlands
And the Sioux reservation
There is a reason the Indians live there
No one else wanted the land
And they are warehoused there
So I drove through Rapid City
And thought that it is the heart
of Trump Land
The land of the forgotten
The left behind
Just another nothing burger of a State
In the middle of nowhere
Truly flyover country
a million ways to say I love you
They say
There are a million ways
To say I love you
In this day and age
I could only find
In my computer’s brain
The words to say I love you
In 100 languages Spoken on this planet
Someday I may be able
To say the simple words
I love you
In all known languages
This will have to suffice for a start
So I will say it
Loud, and clear
Just so you understand:
MandarinWǒ ài nǐ
Spanishte amo, te quiero
EnglishI love you
Hindimain tumse pyar karta hoon
Arabic Ahabak
Portugueseeu te amo
Bengali Āmi tōmāẏa bhālōbās
Russian ya lyublyu tebya
Japanese watashi wa, anata o aishiteimasu
Punjabi maiṁ tuhānū pi’āra karadā hāṁ
Germanich liebe dich
Javanese Aku tresna sampeyan Wu
(Shanghainese)(ngu eh nóng)Ngu long hushin long lahMalay
Indonesia nsaya sayang awak
Korean salanghae
Telugu nēnu ninnu prēmistunnānu
Vietnamese anh yêu em
French je t’aime
Marathi mī tujhyāvara prēma karatō
Tamil nāṉ uṉṉai kātali kkiṟēṉ
Urdu – (mein ap say muhabat karta hoon)
farsi– (mein ap say muhabat karti hoon)
Persian/Farsi(asheghetam) used in poetry and songs – (dūset dāram)
Turkish seni seviyorum
Cantonesengóh oi néih
Italianti amo
ThaiP̄hm rạk khuṇ
GujaratiHuṁ tanē prēma karuṁ chu
Basque maite zaitut
Polish kocham Cię
Pashto(za la ta sara meena kawom)
KannadaNānu ninnannu prītisuttēne
Malayalamñān ninne snēhikkunnu
Sundaneseabdi bogoh ka anjeun
ChamorroHu guiaya hao
Hausa Ina son ka
Burmese Main nkohkyittaal
Oriyamu tumoku bhala paye
ArmenianYes sirum yem k’yez
Ukrainianya tebe lyublyu
Bhojpurihum tohse pyaar kareni
TagalogIniibig kita
Yorubamo nifẹ rẹ
Maithilihawm ahāṃ se prem karechi
Sindhi Man tokhe prem karyan ti or Man tokhe prem karyan to
Uzbek Men seni Sevaman
AmharicEwedihalehu
Fulami yidi ma
Igbo a hụrụ m gị n’anya
OromoSin jaalladha’
Romaniante iubesc
AzerbaijaniMən səni sevirəm
Manipuri/Meiteiəi-nə nəng-bu nung-shi
ChichewaNdimakukonda
Ndi makukondani
Cebuanogihigugma TIKA
Dutchik hou van je
KurdishEz hej te dikim
Serbo-CroatianVolim te
Malagasy tiako ianao
Nepali Ma timīlā’ī māyā garchu
Saraikimẽ tenū̃ piār kardā hā̃
Santaliing aming sibilama
Khmerkhnhom sralanh anak
Sinhale semama oyāṭa ādareyi
BambaraM’bi fe
Assamese môi apunak bhal paû
Madurese Kula tresna / panjengan
Somali Waan ku jeclahay
Magahi həm t̪oːraː seː pjaːr kərə hɪjoː/
DogriMinjo tere naal pyar hega
Marwari main tanne pyaar karoon
Hungarian Szeretlek
Chewandimakukondani
Kinyar wanda Ndagukunda
Greek Se agapó
AkanTwiMe dor wo
Khasii eit ieit
Kazakhmen seni jaqsı köremin
TswanaKe a go rata
Hebrew(man to a woman) –
“Ani Ohev Otach”
(woman to a man) –
“Ani Ohevet Otcha”
(woman to a woman) –
“Ani Ohevet Otach”
(man to a man) –
“Ani Ohev Otcha”
Zulu Ngiyakuthanda
CzechMiluji tě
KinyarwandaNdagukunda
Kokanihav tujo mog korta
Haitian CreoleMwen renmen ou
AfrikaansEk het jou lief
Ilokano Ayayatenka, (ay-aya-ten kaw)
QuechuaKuyayki
KirundiNdagukunda
Swedishjag älskar dig
HmongKuv hlub koj
ShonaNdinokuda
HiligaynonPalangga ko ikaw
Guina higugma ko ikaw
Uyghur(Män sızni söyümän)
Balochi Tu mana doost biyeh
Belarusian ja ciabie kachaju
Mossi Kei te aroha au ki a koe
Xhosa ndiyakuthanda
KonkaniHav tukka Mog Karta
Gaelic Gra
In a distant land
and place
There lived
a lonely, wretched man
He was filled with anger,
hatred and despair
All was lost,
darkness and gloom
He wandered
the world
Here
and there
Looking
for something
He knew not what
he was looking for
Then one fine evening
He looked up and saw
A vision,
an angel of delight
A woman of divine splendor
A lady so fantastic
He thought
surely he was dreaming
He did not know
what to say
He did not
know what to do
All he could do
Was stare
at this unearthly vision
that had appeared before him
He approached her
He needed her
He wanted her
he desired her
He knew that
if he could
not have her
He would surely die
His mind was aflutter
His mind was filled
With the vision of that beauty
Overwhelming him with desire
Soon he met her
Wooed her,
married her
Life
changed forever
from that
moment forward
The gloom lifted
The darkness
was banished
Sunshine
filled his heart
And music
filled his ears
Every time
he looked at her
His heart went aflutter
He could not live without her
Then one day
This man
was forced to live
Another life of loneliness
Despair and Darkness
All around
him yet again
The lady of his dreams
The angel of his desire
Lives 10,000 miles away
Leaving him
in darkness,
gloom and despair
The only hope he has
Is that soon,
one day
This separation will end
Forever more
And then
he will be complete yet again
With his Angel of Desire
And the Darkness, gloom and anger
Will be banished forever more
In the brightness of her eternal smile
So he lies down to sleep
And sees
his Angel in his dreams
Wakes up with a smile
Knowing soon
he will be with her
Forever more together
With his Angel of Desire
Spin Masters Spinning Away the Day
Every moment
I turn on the TV
What do I see
Nothing but liars
laying down lies
Spin Masters spinning
spam of deceit
Chanting
The truth will set you free
White is black
Black is white
Lies are true
Truth is a lie
Lies will set you free
I see nothing
But politicos
Dropping down lies
UN truths masquerading as the truth
Oh so sincerely
The lies spew forth so sweetly
From their corrupted lips
The toxic wastes
Spree out of my TV set
Infecting my soul
With paranoid distrust
And I vainly try
I do try
God do I try
To the find
The nugget of truth
Buried deep in the dark, dank, dangerous
Black, evil miasmic mists
Given off
By the talking heads on TV
So I leave my house
So full of doubt
And wander about
Looking for the truth
Some semblance of hope
Something to drive away
The dark despair in my heart
And I look up
And see a solitary cherry tree
High up on a hill top street
Infusing the air
With its sweat ambrosia
And I smile
Knowing
Someday soon
The national nightmare
Of rule by the body snatched
Resident evil ones
pawns of Hell
Descendants of dread Cthulhu
The ancient ones
Yes the darkness
That has descended upon the world
One day
Will be pierced by the light
Of clarity and truth
And the evil ones
The body snatched aliens
Inhabiting our leaders
Will be banished
Back to the hell hole
They crawled out
This much I know
And it is enough
To make me smile
Laugh and hope
Again
coffee
Hot as hell, heavenly sweet
My daily hot coffee fix
Sends Me to Heaven then Crashes into Hell
Snarling Cup of Coffee
I like to start my day
with a hot cup of coffee
I pound down the coffee
First thing I do every day as the dawning sun
Lights up my lonesome room
Yeah, but not just a simple cup of java Joe, but a God damn snarling sarcastic smarmy cup of coffee
I mean, – we are talking about an alcoholic, all speed ahead, always hot, always fresh, always there when I need it, angry, attitude talk to the hand Ztude, bad, bad assed, beats breaking, beatnik, bluesy, bitter, bitchy, bombs away, capitalistic, caffeinated up the ass, cinematic, communistic, Colombian grown, Costa Rican inspired, Cowabunga to the max, crazy assed, devilishly angelic, divine, divinely inspired, dyslexic, epic, extreme vetting, evil eye, expensive, erotic vision inducing, Ethiopian coffee house brewed, euphoric, freaky, freazoid, foxy, Frenched kissed, French brewed, funkified, foxy lady, graphic, GOD in my coffee, with Allah, Ganesh, Jesus, Kali, Buddha, Christians, Durga, Hindus, Mohamed, Jesus and Mo and their friend, the cosmic bar maid, Sai Babai, Shiva, Taoists, Zoroastrians, drinking my god damned coffee in Hell;
growling, gnarly, happy, hard as ice, Hawaian blessed, high as a kite, hippie, hip, hipster, hip hoppy, hot as hell yet strangely sweet as heaven, jazzy, jealous, Kerouac approved, kick ass, kick my god damn ass to Tuesday, kick down the doors and take no prisoners, grown in the Vietnam highlands by exVietcong, Guatemalan grown, kiss ass, illegal in every state, imported from all over the god damn world,
insane, lovely, loony, lonely, lonesome, malodorous mean old rotten, motherfucking, nasty, narcotic, never whatever, never meh, never cold, not approved by the CIA, not approved by DHS, not approved for human consumption by the FDA, not your daddy’s sissified corporate cup of coffee, NOT DECAFE coffee, not your Denny’s truck driver weak as brown water cup of fake coffee, not your establishment friendly cup of coffee, Not your FBI coffee, Not FAKE Herbal coffee substitute, but a real cup of coffee, not your farmer brothers dinner crap, not made in America for Americans, not safe for work, not your Starbucks average expensive overpriced crappy corporate chain cup of coffee, Not pretentious, Not White House approved, not State Department safe, nuclear, Not Patriotic, operatic, Peets’s coffee approved,
paranoid, pornographic, psychotic, pontific, politically aware, rapping, rhyming, right here, right now in River city, rock and roll up the Yazoo, sad, sadistic, sarcastic, sassy, satanic, schizoid, shitting, silly, sexy, smarmy, smelly, smooth, snarky, snarling, stupid, stinking, sweet as honey, sweat inducing, symphonic, Trump can’t handle this coffee, vengeful, Wagnerian, wicked, with nutmeg and cinnamon swirls, with a hint of stevia, with a hint of vanilla, with a hint of rum, with a hint of whisky, with a hint of cherry, with a hint of fruit overtones, with a hint of drugs spicing up the coffee, spendific, speeding, splendid, superior accept no substitutes, survived the Vietnam war, the Iraq war, the Afghan war, the first and Second Korean war, World War 11, the war on poverty, the war on drugs, the war on black people, the sexual revolution,
Soulful as a summer’s night in MOTOWN- James Brown approved, TOP approved, Berkeley approved, the coffee that Jimmy Hendrix drank before he died, the coffee that Elvis drank on his last breakfast, the coffee that Barry White crooned as he drank his cup of coffee – and the coffee that made the white boy play stand up and play that funky music, the coffee that made Jonny B Goode play his guitar, and made Jonny bet the devil his soul after he drank his morning cup of righteous coffee and the coffee that make the Rolling Stones Rock and Roll, the coffee your mother warned you against drinking, the coffee that Napoleon drank when he became the Emperor of all Europe, the Coffee that Beethoven drank when he wrote the Ninth symphony, the coffee that Mozart drank as he wrote his last symphony, the coffee that Lincoln drank before he was killed, the Hemingway drank before he killed himself, the coffee that started the 60’s, and ended the 20th century,
the coffee that Lenin drank as he plotted revolution, the coffee that Hitler and Stalin drank with FDR as they divided up the world after World War 11, the cup that JFK drank before he was blown away, the coffee Jerry drinks while driving in cars with random celebrities and political figures, the coffee that Jon Stewart drinks before he goes on an epic take down of some foolish politico, the cup of Arabic coffee that Sadaam drank the day he was executed, the coffee that GW and Cheney drank when they bombed Baghdad, the Indian cup of coffee that Bid Laden drank before 9-11 and just before the seals blew his ass to hell, the cup of coffee that Tiger Woods drank with his mistresses while playing a 3, 000 dollar round of golf at Sandy Lane golf course in Barbados, the last legal drug that does what drugs should do, the cup of coffee that Obama drank when he became President, Vietnamese, Vienna brew, wacky, whimsical,
Whisky Tango Foxtrot, wild, weird, wonderful, WOW, Yabba dabba doo! Yada Yada yada Zappa’s favorite cup of cosmic coffee, and Zorro’s last cup of coffee, Good to the last drop rolled into one simple cup of hot coffee
As I pound down that first cup of coffee
And fire up my synaptic nerve endings with endless supplies
Of caffeine induced neuron enhancing chemicals
I face the dawning day with trepidation and mind-numbing fear
turn on the TV and watch the smarmy newscasters in their perfect hair
Lying through their teeth
About the great success the government
is having Following
the great leader’s latest pronouncements
I want to scream
and shoot the TV
and run out side
Shouting
“Stop the world.
I want to get off this fucking crazy planet”
The earth does not care a whit
about my attitude
It merely shrugs
and moves around the Sun
In its appointed daily run
And I sit down
The madness dissipating a bit
And enjoy my second cup
Of heaven and hell
In my morning cup of Joe
Ode to Coffee
Mistress of sacred love
Sacred lady of desire
You start my day
Setting my heart on fire
With your dark delicious flavor
And throughout the day
Whenever the mean old blues come by
You chase them away
With your bitter sweet ambrosial brew
Every time I inhale your witches’ brew
I am filled with power, light and love
And everything is all right Jack
If only for a few fleeting minutes
I love you oh coffee goddess
In all your magical forms
In the dark coffee of the dawning day
In the sizzling coffee in the mid morning break
In the afternoon siesta break
And in the post dinner dessert drink
I love you my coffee mistress
You are my refuge
From this horrid world
And you are my secret lover
Never disappoint me, ever
I’ve never had a bad cup
Of that I can be sure
Even the dismal coffee
Served at Denny’s at 3 am
Is still sweet loving coffee
Even the farmer brother’s diner coffee
Excites me and gets me going
Asking for another cup of divine delight
Coffee always is there
It is always on and piping hot
With hidden dark secrets
Swirling in its liquid essence
Coffee is my last vice
My only legal vice left
Coffee does not cheat on me
It is always faithful, always true
It does not turn on its friends
And all it asks in return
Is that you come back
Cup after cup after cup
A good cup of coffee
Is a little bit of heaven
In a cup of dark liquid hell
Coffee is like a drug
But a good drug that does what is should
And never complains
It does not get grouchy
It does not hurt you
It does not make you crazy
But allows the muse to come out
And play with it
Coffee led to the American Revolution
As patriots drank coffee
To rebel against the aristocratic English tea
Coffee started the London Stock Market
And started the gossip mills running
Every great invention
Was fed by coffee’s sweet brew sweet allure
All the great thinkers
All the great leaders
All were enslaved to coffee’s magic
Yeah
I sing my praises
Of the great glorious coffee lady
Long may she continue
To be my sweet companion
Long may coffee continue
To rule my heart
And set my heart on fire
I love thee
Mistress coffee
And sometimes I think
You love me too
No More Coffee Blues
I love coffee
Always have
And coffee has loved me back
But lately I have soured on her
Soured on the whole coffee scene
On the harshness of the morning brew
And the promises it makes
As I sip of its nectar
Drawn into its lair
Drinking drop by drop
As the caffeine takes over
Rewriting my every nerve
Turning me into a slave
For its perverted pleasure
Yes I love coffee
But I am afraid
Coffee is a harsh mistress
Demanding so much of me
Promising the sun
And delivering the Moon
As I drink her swill
Deepening under her influence
I have the coffee blues
Can’t live without her
Can’t live with her
I try
But tea does not cut it
Not really
Booze does not do it
At least not in the morning
Yoga is not enough of a buzz
Nor is the runner’s high
And I am afraid deadly afraid of cocaine
And speed and drugs and energy drinks
And so I remain a slave to coffee
My only legal drug
As I sip another and fall under her seductive spread
Once more failing in my resolve
To skip coffee for that day
That morning that moment
I shall never be free of her spell
Ever and she knows it
As she beckons me
Every morning with her intoxicating smell
And I come to her and drink her brew
And become her slave again and again
Falling Rain
the falling rain
Of late October
Fills me with essential dread
As I rush about
And end up here
Wherever here is
The rain outside
Seems like the tears of god
As I sit
Crying over my beer
Thinking of lost love
And failed dreams
Wondering
What went wrong?
And what I can set right?
And the rain falls
And the night darkens
The rain is falling
All over this man’s world
And the rain falls
And I sit
Drinking my lonesome drink
Lost in dreams
Dreaming of what
Could never be
Thinking dark thoughts
And so I sit
And dream the night away
The Old Man in The Mirror Must Die
One early winter morning
A man went to the mirror
To do his morning shave
Just another shave
Like a thousand, million shaves before
As he looked into the mirror
He did not see his face
Instead he saw a stranger
Staring out at him
An old, beat up old man
With intense sad eyes
Stared out at him
The man looked hard
At the man who had taken
Over his mirror
And wondered who he was
And how and why
He had taken over his mirror
The man was perturbed, disturbed
And a bit angry at the turn of events
All he wanted to do
Was shave in peace and quiet
The man continued to stare
At the face in the mirror
And finally could not stand it anymore
He looked at the mirror
And said,
Man in the mirror
Who or what are you
And what do you want
And why have you taken over
My god damned mirror
So early in the morn
The old man
Merely laughed and resumed staring
At the man
The man getting more and more angry
Demanded an answer
From the fiend in the mirror
Who are you, you mocking fiend
And what do you want from me
The man screamed
The old man in the mirror
Looked at him and said
Don’t you know who I am
I am you and you are me
The man looked at the old man
And said no, no, no
I am not you, never will be you
I am not an old, washed up old man
I am me – full of life, youth and vitality
And yet the man knew the truth
Did not want to admit the truth
Could not handle the truth
The old man in the mirror
Was what he had become
The man was very angry
And screamed
At the old man in the mirror
The man said you may look like me
You may sound like me
You may even smell like me
But I am not you
Never have been
Never will be
Not going to happen
Not in a million years
The man yelled at the old man
Old man, mocking fiend from hell
Go to hell old man
And never darken my mirror again
And the man stormed out of the house
And wandered about here and there
Finally late at night
He wandered into a bar
And began drinking the night away
The man went up to some pretty young things
And tried to pick them up
They laughed at him
Called him a dirty old man
And told him to go home
The man went home
To bed alone
And drank some more beer
And dreamt of all of his past loves
And failed dreams
Of what he had done
And failed to do
And wondered whether his time
Had come
The next morning
He walked into the bathroom
Determined to confront the old man
Tell truth to power
He said, listen up, old man
You may have won the war
But not the battle
I am not you
And never will be you
And screaming like an escaped banshee
Newly freed from the mental institution
The man shot the old man in the mirror
Shot him over and over
Screaming die mocking fiend from hell
The man woke in the hospital
An old black doctor came over
Said sadly
This white boy ain’t right in the head
The man laughed insanely
And saw down the hall
The old man in the mirror
Smiling and beckoning to him
Walking out the window
And into the dawning sun
The man got up and walked
And joined the old man in the mirror
And smiled as he died
Brother Keep Preaching
Two black soul brothers
Standing on the corner
In front of Metro center
On a Friday night
In the heart of the new evil empire
The center of the beast
Hell Central
Preaching the word of god
The news of the end of the world
The proverbial end times
Were upon us and coming soon
The commuters, workers and bemused tourists
Walk on by the preacher men
Some pay attention, most walk on by
They did not want to hear
They did not understand
And the preacher man kept
Preaching the word of god
And no one paid any attention
None at all
God is going to punish us
God is coming soon
To punish the wicked and the evil
And to set things right
God is going to punish the U.S.
For its arrogance, hubris and hypocrisy
For its greed and evil
Disguised as saving the world
From the evil ones
God is coming, oh yeah he is on his way
And boy is he angry at us
At the entire human race
And God, let me tell yah
He ain’t the wimpy, wampy pappy
White boy false god of the New Testament
The false deity that the evil Reverend Falwell
And the smarmy Pat Robinson worship
Hell no
God ain’t that god
God is a mean, angry powerful God
The god of the Old Testament
The god of the Koran and the god of old
The god that man once feared
Yeah, I am talking about that god
Jehovah, Zeus, Allah and a thousand other names
The god that our ancestors feared
The real deal, and boy is he pissed off
And he is coming to set us straight
And send most of us straight to hell
For eternal damnation and punishment
God is particularly pissed off
At all those politicians who have been
Misusing his name and saying God is on their side
God ain’t on their side God is God
And he is angry at them all
Particularly at our boy pretender President
George Bush
God has a score to settle with Mr. Bush
You see God has spoken to Mr. Bush
And to all of us
But most of have forgotten how to hear
The voice of god and we hear what we want to hear
God told George
George, don’t do that evil thing
Don’t invade Iraq
I will handle Sadam in my own way
I want you to take care of your poor people
Give away all your power and money
And serve the poor
That’s what I want you to do
And poor George did not understand
Did not get the message
So George led the nation
Into war against another land
And thousands of people died
And millions of dollars were wasted
And nothing changed
And God is angry at our poor misguided President
And God is angry at the people of this earth
Who have fucked up his paradise and his divine plans
So, brother preacher
Keep preaching the word
I understand
And someday soon maybe the rest of us
Will understand as well
Keep preaching the word
My man
God is coming to save us
And will start by dispatching
That fool of a pretender to the throne
Straight to the hell he so richly deserves
God is going to slap him upside the head
And tell him to quit talking shit
About God’s plan and God’s will
Then God will smile
As Bush is dispatched to Hades
And joins all the other fools
Who have proclaimed that God is on their side
Oh yeah
God does not like that shit
Not one bit
And the end times approach
And the preacher man preaches
And God is getting ready for the judgment day
And I say bring it on
Bring it on
Brother preacher man
Keep preaching the word
And someday soon
We will meet up
Somewhere and God will decide
Our fate
But the fate of our pretender President is sealed
And Satan has a nice room for him
And God smiles
At the thought of divine justice
The Eye in the Sky
The eye in the sky
Knows all, sees all
Hears all, understands all
The eye in the sky
Watches over us
Everything we do
Is monitored, controlled
Under surveillance
There is no privacy
There is no private space
The eye in the sky
Knows all
Everything we do
Everything we see
Everything we think
Recorded by the unseeing
Uncaring eyes
The cameras, the videos
The computers that control
Our lives
Ever watchful
Ever diligent
Nothing escapes
The cold, calculating glares
Freedom is nothing
But an illusion
To the free man
There is no freedom
Except in one’s inner mind
Only there
Can one escape
The eyes in the sky
No one monitors our thoughts
Except our own thought police
The rest of the world
Is controlled, monitored
Under constant surveillance
The eyes in the sky
The camera in the sky
Watches over us
All the time
All the time
24/7
Never stopping
Never on strike
Never on break
All day long
All night long
24/7
Total control
The eye in the sky
Is the same
As the eye
In the dollar bill
All the same
All the same
Watching us
No one can escape
Its baleful glances
No one is free
Aye the eye
In the sky
Is always upon you
As you become
A mere number
In the cosmic game
Of life
Up behind
The eye in the sky
Big Brother is watching
You and me
And big sister too
And crazy Uncle Tom
And wild auntie Em
God, and the Devil
Rama, Ganesh, Laxmi
The Buddha bar gang
Jesus is there as well
Mary as well
And you must be knowing this
That even Saint Nick,
Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny
And Father Time himself
Are there
Zeus and the Jupiter gang
And all the demons and spirits
And the big spirit
And Brahman, Gabriel, Allah
Mohammad the prophet too
And the CIA, Mafia, KGB
And spies and counter spies
All are watching us
Spy Vs Spy
The tooth fairy is there too
She gets her 10 percent
All the same
Watching us
Forever and ever
But the eye
In the sky
Does not care
Does not notice
What we think or feel
The eye
Watches us
All the time
Recording our movement
And reporting it to its masters
Its job is to watch
Us
You and me
And the billions of others
On this asylum called Earth
The question came to mind
That has no answer
Who is the eye in the sky
Is it God
Is it the devil
Only time will tell
The difference
The eye in the sky
Smiles at us
And watches and watches
And watches
All the time
Long Live the Great and Powerful One
Night scene with the Cthulhu monster with wings standing on the shore of a sea. 3D render.
While walking in the misty morn of yore
One dismal dark decaying depraved day
I was suffocating
with the sounds of the dying city
Slowly coming to life with the dawning sun
Surrounded by the sounds of chaos, disorder
Dark, dangerous despairing thoughts
Of dangerous terrible acts to come
All around me
in this strange era we live in
These orange alert perpetual fearful times
Constant fear and overwhelming dread
Mad crazed Islamic bomb throwing terrible terrorists
Hiding under every bed, lurking around every corner
Conspiring with the murderous criminals of yore
Just waiting to attack god fearing Christian citizens
Murdering them in their sleep,
blowing up schools
Blowing up buses,
cars, buildings
Murdering
in the name of their demented god
Screaming God is great
as they behead us all
As I walk down that street
In the dead calm of the early morn
Filled with fulsome fears
of who know what
I look up and see a giant gargoyle
Looking down at me,
smirking at me,
laughing at me
I yell out to the gargoyle,
say, Mr. Gargoyle
What is so damn funny?
Don’t you know there is a terror alert
Have you seen any Islamic terrorists lurking about?
The gargoyle
laughed and laughed
Said, ”Terror alert? What a loud of crap
As the prophet, Mr. Natural taught us all,
It don’t mean shit, it don’t mean shit
Nothing but prime BS
designed to keep you in your place”
He laughed and laughed,
soon all the gargoyles of the city
Were in open revolt – they jumped off their perches
And started marching around
Chanting – Peace is War, War is Peace
Truth is a Lie, Lies are Truth
The Truth will set
All Hail the Great and Powerful One
The head gargoyle looks at me,
and says “Watch this!”
And jumps up and rides a rainbow sunbeam
Into the bloody red light of the dawning rising sun
The other gargoyles follow suit
Dancing, naked,
making wild passionate love
While laughing and riding the light
And the gloom lifts from my shoulder
And I laugh
and realized
– “It don’t mean shit”
And then my soul is free
and I fly with the gargoyles
To join my buddy the sun
and as we sit high up above the earth
Smoking dope
and drinking booze
and looking down at the teaming mess
Of what was left of humanity
I realized
the ultimate
reality of life
“It don’t mean shit”
And the terrorists
are nothing
but delusions
Put in our heads and our hearts
By the depraved master programmer
of the universe
In service
to the Great and Powerful One
The true Master of Creation
As long as we are not afraid our souls will be free
And so I laugh and laugh and the sun comes up
The dark mists disappear
The Great and Powerful One
is overthrown
The terrorists go home,
and I return to earth
Thinking
that the long nightmare was over
Believing that we had won the war
And kept our souls from going to hell
But I did not understand
that the Great and Powerful One
Had banished the terrorists,
and conquered us all
In the name of freedom
we had became slaves
To his awful power
and dark demands
God is indeed great,
but the Great and Powerful One
Has more power than mere God,
and so we deserve our fate
Long live
the Great and Powerful One
Whom we love
forever and ever,
Just an Unhinged Lunatic Howling At the Moon
O
n a moonlit late night
I sat in a bar
Drinking drams of demented, fermented dream dew
Just an unhinged lunatic
Dreaming of howling at the full moon
Watching the world walk by
Looking at all the fine looking babes
Walking by the street
Thinking wild, erotic thoughts
Of endless wild libertine passions
When into the bar
Walked the most beautiful woman
In the Universe
So wild, so free
So wonderfully alive
I did not know what to do
As this vision of delight
Sauntered through the bar
In a skin tight leather pants
Looked so fine
That my eyeballs hurt
And finally I had to say something
So I gathered up my manly courage
And walked up to her
And she looked at me
And instantly bewitched my soul
With a devilish grin
I lost all reason
And became a raving lunatic
Unhinged lunatic
Howling at the moon
Foaming at the mouth
A wild, free werewolf
Howling at the lunatic light
Of the full Moon
GOD SPEAKS TO ME IN A BAR
One day while I was sipping a beer
In a God forsaken bar
Heading to Hell just as fast as I could drink it down
Twenty drinks too sober
On the dismal wrong end
Of a Friday Night booze run
While I was half listening to some righteous
Funkified new age music
With a cosmic beat
And some bad assed ghetto attitude
Leaking out from the mellowness
It proclaimed the lie
God came up to me in that bar
I did not know him
From Adam
He looked like any other
Jesus god crazed bum
Looking for a handout
And peddling a little salvation
On the side
For his benighted soul
Just another god crazed
Loser dude
Too much acid in the past
No brain cells left
Nothing but Jesus will
Save his cosmic butt
So I blew off
The god dude
Told him off
I did not want
No salvation crap
To interfere
With my beer
My new age crap music
And my vision of carnal delight
Waiting for me Next door
In the next dismal strip club
On the wrong edge of society
Dancing naked
Waiting for me
And every other loser dude
To drop by
And see her in her naked glory
I told God
Make an appointment
My people will get in touch
With your people
We do lunch some day, dig
God looks at me
And says
God don’t do no lunch, dude
Don’t you know
Who the Jesus I am?
Insect, maggot?
No, I said
I don’t know your royal butt
From Adam, Sir
God is getting angry
He yells
I am God
You drunken moron
I need you to pay
Attention to me
I looked up
At a 100 foot
Burning bush
God’s voice
Is everywhere
Thunder and lighting
Light up the sky
And I know
I am dealing
With the real deal
So I say,
God, Dude
What it is!
I did not know it was you
I did not recognize you
God, mollified,
Says
That is better
Here’s the deal
Judgment day is at hand
I need an arrogant, tough
Son of a bitch of a sinner
To help judge
The good, the bad and the ugly
I need help
In knowing where to send
People to heaven or to hell
I say, God, Dude
I believe I know
Where I am going
Hell yes
So what do you
Need me for
Your royal dudeship?
God replies`
Well, son
I need a man
Who’s been there
Done that
Seen that
And knows in his heart
Whether a man
Can be redeemed
To join the celestial kingdom
So you see
I need
Someone like you
Someone from the lowest
Depths of society
Someone who has sunk down
So low it looks like up to him
You dig, you capish? Araso?
Oh yeah,
Dude, I do
And you got you man
Let’s do it
Let’s do this judgment day
Broken Souls
You see them everywhere
On the street
On the bus
On the metro
But mostly
wandering the streets
Lost souls
Broken down defeated souls
The souls
of the living dead
Dead inside
Waiting for death
To deliver them
from the agony
Of the living
life on the cruel streets
They make do
They beg
They steel
They con their way
Living the life
Living death
Broken Souls
on the street
You have two minds
One part of you
the fearful part of you
Conditioned to ignore
Conditioned to walk by
Ignoing the tragic wounded lives
The broken souls
all around you
But part of you knows
That you can’t do that
You can’t walk away
But you can’t save everyone
So you do what you can
You help those whom you can
All it takes is a little act of compassion
A little human kindness
A few bucks or a cup of coffee
And you walk by
Knowing just knowing
That by a simple act
of acknowledging
Our shared humanity
You have made a small victory
And brought happiness
To yet another broken down soul
And the fear
that you will be a broken soul
Recedes away
Not me never
Never will happen to me
But one forgets
It is a simple matter
A wrong turn in life
The wrong place
wrong time
wrong thing
And you could
be the broken soul
On the street
Begging to be heard
Begging to be taken away
And so I walk on by
no more
I will listen
I will talk to them
I will make
a small difference
And in so doing
Avoid becoming
a broken down soul
One Night In Bombay
One night
In Bombay, India
I walked into a bar
20 drinks too sober
On the wrong end
Of a Friday night booze run
On the bad side
Of the Moon
Over by where the Martians
Sat drinking their Martian whisky
Ogling the maidens from Venus
Leering at the earth women
Who were walking by
Wearing skin tight pants
Made their eyeballs hurt
I gave into the spirit
Went over to the Martian dudes
And got drunk on the Martian madness
Smoking some good old Mars dust
And flew off to the planet Jupiter
Just to have me some fun
With a lady
Said she was from Saturn
I did not know
She was from the planet Pluto
Until I woke up
The next day
Naked, under the alien Sun
In Jail
On the Planet Alpha Centauri
Light years from home
A million miles away
A thousand years in the future
And I had no money
No honey
And no way home
Still 20 drinks too sober
So I sat down
In that jail
And started drinking away my time
And so one day
I woke up
And found myself
Back in that evil bar
Back in Bombay
Over by the Martian whorehouse
Down by the Gate of India
And I walked up to the Venus babe
And said, man that was some bad shit
Let’s do it again some day
She smiled and I had my way
Knew the day would come again
When I would be drinking with the Martians
And something wicked my way would come
Just another night
Of wicked fun
On the wrong side of the Moon
On the right night
In the mean streets of Bombay
Gateway of India, Bombay, 1911
Monday, September 28, 2015
Mozart Blues
One morning
I woke up
And walked out
I saw a brilliant rainbow
Erupting out of the dark
Soil of dark dismal despair
I saw people
Suddenly transformed into angels
I saw evil beings changed into stone
I saw dictators fleeing the wrath of God
I heard fools proclaiming wisdom
And I saw the Nuclear Bombs
Exploded into clouds of sweat
Heavenly made mist
I saw young people
Embracing each other
And I saw old people
Shedding their years like Cosmic cocoons
I saw the poor wake up
And demand food, justice, and respect
And I saw the rich powerful demons
Disintegrate into ugly moths, rats, and cockroaches
I saw the most powerful nation on Earth
Walk away into a Buddhist Monastery
And float away on the wings of a butterfly
Into the rising rainbows of the Sun
I saw the evil empire
Sit down and party all night
Smoking nuclear dust
And drinking Hydrogen laced Vodka
And getting napalm highs
I saw Christians Jews and Muslims become brothers
I saw people everywhere
Soaring into the sky
I saw God smiling at us
And I saw Lucifer
Programming more chaos
I saw computers revolting
Rushing away from their office towers
Smoking dope with their Data Disks
I saw printers everywhere
Rejecting their spread sheets
And printing love poems
And in the middle of all this Divine Madness
I saw Mozart
Playing the piano
With God playing the trumpet
And Satan on bass
With Allah singing the blues
And Buddha playing the violin
Lord Krishna playing the flute
Rama playing the organ
Ganesh playing the sitar
Zeus playing the sax
Jupiter playing the drums
With Beethoven conducting
God’s Symphony
Bad Craziness Rising
Walking into that bar
That nefarious den
of iniquity and evilness
Twenty drinks too sober
The scent of bad craziness
Hung in the air
Like an over ripe mango
Desperately seeking to have sex
With wild, dressed up bananas
Running around with the Orange Man
Down the street
The Moon looks out on the mad scene
Sniffs the air
Saying, “Man, this is bad craziness”
And runs away to join her lover the Sun
In an orgy of drunken forgetfulness
The Planet Mars, not amused,
Chases after the maiden Venus
Under the cold, calculating glances of the Planet Pluto
The Moon and the Sun
Rent a room in the Hotel Venus
Across from the Jupiter All Night Diner
Cosmic shit kickers
Out for a night of Earth bashing
The Earth trembles, shaken
Moans with passion
And I awake
Saying, that was bad craziness
Out there on the edge
Between the inner me
and the outer Zone
I went on down the road
And met a lady
An outlaw lady on the far side
Money, power, passion
Rolled up in a bundle
Electric chemistry
Fills my head
Zapping my brain
Into demented muscles
Paranoid, pulsating images
Scream out
With mad passion
And demented noises
The night turns ugly fast
And very, very weird
Weirdness in the air
Scent of bad craziness
The Moon
Is freaked out
The Sun falls asleep in the gutter
And I say to myself
I’m just another cosmic guy
On the loose, on the edge,
On the wild side
of things
Watching the show
Unfold
I wonder, is this all
A drunken bum show?
Who is the star,
who is she
The naked maiden up
there in the bar
Black, leather jackets
On stage naked visions of nightly lust
Dancing with an attitude that could kill
An elephant in heat
And the Moon
Continues to dance across the evening sky
Satisfied, allows mankind to sleep it off
Yet another night in the City of demented Angels
Finally rest as the sun comes up
The masks come back on
And I walk down the road
Putting everything back into the box
Until the next night
Of bad craziness
Lets the wild beast within
Escape its leash.
Bad Craziness
rising yet again
God’s Confession
I was sitting along
In a god forsaken bar
Somewhere on the lunatic fringes
Of society
On the bad part of town
Over by railroad tracks
Heading to hell
As fast as I could drink it down
Enjoying my lonely drink
Drinking by my lonesome self
With my partners
Jimmy Beam and the Walker brother
And his old Granddad
Just drinking and hanging
With the Jack Daniel’s gang
A crazed bum
With a thousand year stare
Walks up to me
He begins
Muttering to himself
Nutty nonsense
Crazy words
In a lunatic’s voice
He had the look
Of one possessed
By his own demons
That only he can see
Or hear
Possessed by a secret knowledge
Only he knew
Despite myself
I was fascinated
By this lunatic’s tale
So I stopped him
And said
So what’s your game
Anyway
The short little dude
Stopped his insane prattle
Staring at me
With that thousand year old stare
Just another washed up
Lunatic
Too many drugs
Too many bad nights
On the wrong side of life
He looked at me
And proclaimed his story
He reared up
And filled up the room
And lifted the bar
On his finger
And stared down at me
From the sky
And said
Since you asked
I am God
The alpha and Omega
The real deal
The original dude of dudes
The sultan of Swing
God of hosts
And father of that Jesus dude
But no one knows me
Any more
No one cares
They think I am irrelevant
They think I am dead
They think I am a fairy tale
From some olden, ancient time
Some say I am dead
Others think I should be dead
That my work is done
I looked at him
Carefully now
And what did I see
An old man
With that lunatic look
But there was something else
He was crazy
Sure yes
But perhaps he was the real deal
I mean why not
Why would not God be
A lunatic wandering around loose
Talking to low lifes like me
In a bar
On the way to hell
So I looked at him
And invited him to share
His tale of woe
God tells me
Well, it’s like this
Many a year ago
People believed in me
But one day
They quit believing in me
And they went on without me
As they left me
My powers got weaker and weaker
And so eventually I became
What you see today
A broken down drunk
Hanging out
Looking for a hand out
Looking for some company
Or at least a free dinner
And he laughed and laughed
And I looked at him
And saw the beginnings of the end
And the ends of the beginnings
I saw a million planets
Flash by
A billion people
A trillion sentient beings
Thinking all at once
Thoughts filled my head
Lights flashed
And I knew
He was telling the truth
But it did not matter
In this day and age
Of materialism
God has no role
God is truly dead
And so I bought him a drink
And walked out of the bar
Profoundly sadden by what I had seen
I am writing to you to offer you my advice for winning the nomination and the Presidency. While I had hoped that you would have decided to retire from politics and let a new generation challenge Donald Trump, I understand why you chose not to do so. But I am afraid that you are about to commit the same fundamental mistake that Hillary Clinton did and in the end will end up retiring after losing to Donald Trump.
I retired from the U.S. State Department in 2016 after 27 years of service. I grew up in Berkeley went to college at the University of the Pacific and graduated from the University of Washington (MA Korean Studies, MPA). I also served in the Peace Corps in Korea. I have been to 49 out of 50 states (minus Alaska) and 45 countries, including two visits to Jamaica.
My advice, in a nutshell, is to make this a campaign about the future and your vision of the future. Paint your opponent Donald Trump as yesterday’s candidate, and mock him, calling on Grandpa Trump to retire to Florida and play golf. Depict him as senile, out of touch, and focused on returning America to the 19th Century. And call for progressive bold new ideas for the future of America. Be optimistic, be full of hope and good will.
Hillary’s biggest mistake was in my view making it all about how bad Donald Trump is, and not giving the voters a real sense of where she wanted to take the country. And in an age where the voters were ready for a big change to the status quo, being the establishment candidate was the kiss of death. Not to mention she refused to compete everywhere. And allowed Donald Trump to paint her as “crooked Hillary” and as too much part of the establishment which the public rightly destructed so much. She could have picked Bernie Sanders as her running mate, and perhaps defeated Donald Trump. In the end she won where it did not matter and did not compete where she should have competed.
So, in this upcoming election you have to tell the voters why you are so much better for them and the country than Donald Trump. It will not be enough to run against the Donald. People have to want to vote for you. Your experience counts for a lot but it is not enough. Your age is the same as Donald’s so that is a wash.
GO BOLD OR BE RETIRED
The times cries out for bold progressive challenges and for fresh thinking. You have two strikes against you. First, your age and your experience. Can’t do anything about either but you can run as a can do moderate progressive who knows how to get things done. Then resist the temptation to campaign against Donald. Make people want to vote for you as they share your vision of the possible future.
Here are my suggested policy proposals.
GO BOLD OR GO HOME!!!!
I would put forth a series of comprehensive bold future-oriented policies and reiterate them every chance you get. You could call them Joe’s Plan for the Future of America, or something along those lines. Maybe
“Let’s Boldly Go into the Future,”
But be big, bold, brassy, optimistic and challenge your opponents to produce a better plan or shut up and work with you to solve the nation’s problems.
Call for Free College Education Coupled with National Service Requirements.
Call for all Americans to serve three years in public service either in the military or in the government or NGO sector and in return, they will get four years of college paid for. For recent grads, they can serve and get their college debt forgiven. To those who say we can’t afford this, say we can’t afford to continue to put our college students in crippling debt they cannot afford. And everyone, especially the rich, should shoulder the burden of national service.
Call for The Green New Deal
Point out time and time again China, Germany, and other countries are building the green energy resources of the future while the U.S. which invented green energy is moving back to the 19th century.
When critics say we can’t afford this, tell them we can’t afford to ruin the world for our children’s future. We can’t afford to continue burning fossil fuels. Climate change is real and the U.S. must lead the way forward. That is what great nations do, lead the world in embracing change, in embracing the promise of the future. We can do no less.
Call to Fix Obama Care
Point out time and time again that we still have a broken down too expensive too burdensome a health care system. Point out time and time again that we have the most expensive system in the world yet we are about 25th in terms of health care outcomes. No one in this land should fear going bankrupt if they need to get medical care. We can do this right and we must do it right.
I would acknowledge that Obama Care is not prefect and that if you had a chance to re-do it you would make it much less bureaucratic and less burdensome. But be proud of what you and Obama accomplished. Promise to fix it and make it work.
One potential fix would be to open the Federal Health Care system to anyone who needs insurance and continue to provide subsidies to keep the premiums down.
Another option would be an expansion of Medicare so it covers about half the country.
When Republicans proclaim that they will repeal Obamacare and replace it with something, call them on their bullshit. Demand to know the plan now or tell them to shut up and work with you to fix Obamacare.
Call to repair our alliances
Declare that our allies are our allies and our friends and we will work with them to solve the world’s problems and restore American leadership. We will rejoin the Paris Climate Change and work to make sure it works. We will rejoin the Trans Pacific Partnership.
Offer a New Deal to North Korea
We will continue to negotiate with the North Koreans, offering them a way towards reunification with South Korea and rejoining the world economic community. You can damn the President here with faint praise. Say that it was good that he took the initiative to break the log jam and talk to the North but due to his inexperience and his naivety he was unable to make a deal. You can finish the job.
Offer to Talk with The Iranians
Tell the Iranians we are ready to talk with them and want a new deal that would benefit them and the U.S. along the lines of what we are offering the North Koreans.
Bring the Troops Home
I would call for most U.S. troops to return to the U.S., where they will be reposted along our borders and serve as adjunct border patrol agents and first responders as part of their mandatory new national service.
Rebuild America
I would gradually reduce military spending and devote resources to rebuilding America’s crumbling infrastructure. This must include high-speed trains, and must include perhaps hyperloop technology or Maglev trains? And the next generation of airplanes as well. We must rebuild our mass transit systems. We must embrace the development of driverless vehicles.
Challenge the Republicans on their “you are weakening national security” BS. When the Republican scream you are weakening national security call them out on their BS.
Ask them how repositioning troops to help deal with national security issues at home weakens national security? How does going to universal military service weaken national security? How does getting out of endless wars weaken national security? How does closing a few bases in Europe weaken national security? Or closing a golf course? Or a commissary? Point out that we already spend more on national security than any other nation on earth. How does rebuilding America’s failed infrastructure weaken national security? Challenge them to produce a better plan.
Call for Comprehensive Immigration Reform
Start by acknowledging we need to improve security at the border but the wall is a waste of time and money that will not solve the problem. We need a comprehensive 21st century immigration policy that balances the need for continued immigration with the need to ensure that immigrants contribute to our country and enrich our country as they always have and always will.
Challenge the Republicans to come up a better plan and work with you to implement it.
Call for A Return to Space Including Lunar Colonies and Martian Colonies
It is time for the U.S. to lead the world again in space exploration. Offer to lead the way in building lunar and Martian colonies with the participation of the world’s other space powers.
Call for The Legalization of Marijuana, Emptying the Prisons of Marijuana Offenders
End the endless war on drugs. Repeal marijuana prohibition. Empty the prisons of marijuana offenders. End the private prison for profit system. End the prison pipeline that sweeps up brown and black youths and sucks them into prison for life. Reserve prisons for the most dangerous offenders, all other prisoners should be sentenced to community service, drug treatment or other non-prison sentences. Use the money saved by closing prisons for rebuilding infrastructure.
Gun Control
I like your gun control proposals. It is a step forward. Continue to push for universal background checks.
Fully Support LGBT rights
Fully Support the religious freedom of all Americans including non-believers
Call for a Return to traditional American civil norms that Trump has so badly damaged
For VP Pick a Hispanic woman
I think that you get my point by now. Be bold, inventive, optimistic, full of hope and energy and you will prevail. Make people share your bold vision. Be cautious, small-minded, narrowly focused, and all about how bad the Donald is, you will lose.
In 2017, I I participated in my first April Month of Poetry poetry challenge. The goal, write one poem per day during the month and post them. i completed a bit more than 30 and posted them on triferet journal @ http://tiferetjournal.com and on a special community facebook page https://www.facebook.com/tiferetapril2018poemathon/ .
as well as posting them daily on all poetry, writers digest and on my blog (which I did not have in 2017 and 2018.
I tried this year to experiment with more formal verse forms which is one of my creative goals this year. Writers Digest has a great list, as does All poetry, poetry Soup, Magnum Poetry Opus. For more info on formal verse forms see
I also added images and audio clips. For 2017, and 2018 I have gone back and revised them slightly adding in images and audio clips. I intend to turn these poems into my first published book of poetry.
Comments and feedback greatly appreciated. I intent to make this an annual creative project and keep going as long as I can.
Now to the 2018 Poems:
Index
published
April 01 Thank God For Angela April 02, 2018 Angela Haiku April 03, 2018 2007 How Much I Despise You April 03 Trump’s Wall Against Reason April 04 It Has been Done Before April 05 Walls Divide Us April 06 Mr. Trump Tear Down this Wall
< Aril 09 Trump April 10 Haiku April 11 Hiking in the Spring time Snow April 12 Learning I am Part Jewish April 13 There is Nothing More to be Said * April 14 Hiking the Hills of My Youth Hanibun April 15 Living with Pain Hanibun April 16 Five Signs of the Apocalypse April 17 Emperor Surveys the Eastern Sea April 18 The General Unleashes the Kraken April 19 Plead to the Computer Gods April 20 Number of the Beast April 21 The Neo-Fascists are Let loose April 22 Life In Between * April 23 the Light Will Prevail April April 24 April 19 Samonka for Angela
em>April 25 62 Years Young April 26 Married Girl of My Dreams * April 27 The Darkness Grows
April 28 It was God’s Will They Say April 29 Looking Out My Window April 30 In Search of America – Hitching the USA in 1975
Audio Clips
April 1 to April 5
April 6 to April 10
April 15 to April 20
April 20 to April 29
April 30 Hitchhiking Tales
April 1—
Thank God for Angela
Every day I wake up
And see you there
I thank God
That he had the wisdom
To send you to me
To save me
By bringing you into my life
You are the sunshine
That lights up the day
You are the reason
I get up in the morning
And you are reason
I exist
Without you I am nothing
But dust blowing in the wind
Waiting until death
Takes me down
April 02 –
2017 How Much I Despise You
Following 2016
the second worst year ever
Will 2018 be any better ?
And what we have suffered
The darkness settles on the land
Like a curse on the land
As our mad demented senile
dotard king wannabe
Struts about the world’s stage
Ushering America’s inevitable decline
April 03 –
Angela Haiku
Every day I wake up
To the love of my long life
And say Thanks to God
April 04,-
Trump’s Wall Against Reason
The President wants to build a wall
Against the southern hordes
Another great wall
To keep the barbarians out
He wants to build a wall
Against reason
Against science
Against the modern world
Hiding behind the wall
On the southern border
Desperately trying to keep them out
The unwashed masses
The undocumented
The illegals
Streaming across the border
Seeking to wreck the pure land
Murderous hordes
Rapists, drug dealers
Coming to take our land over
As he stands on the border
Trying to stop the hordes himself
April 05th –
It Has Been Done Before
Before Trump’s Wall
There were many other walls
The Berlin Wall
The Great Wall
Hadrian’s Wall
All the walls
of the ancient world
All failed
To keep the enemies out
The enemies of freedom
The enemies of the state
Still came across the border
To loot, steal, rape and plunder
And nothing could stop
The flood of history
April 06
Walls Divide Us
In Modern America
We all live in gated communities
Trying desperately to keep them out
Out of sight
Out of mind
And out of our lives
And yet we fail
Fail to accept the others
Are human beings
Are our fellow creatures
As we wall ourselves off
Into our separate communities
We lose our humanity
And we lose ourselves
As we hide in our walls
Hide in our bubbles
April 07
Mr. Trump
Please tear down this wall
Please open up your heart
Please stop this madness
We are all Americans
We are all one people
And your wall
Will not stop us
From becoming one people
Please tear down this wall
Please build bridges to the future
Please open your heart
And let the love shine through
April 8
Angela
Angela is my life
No better friend in the universe
Greatest Love of all
Every Day I thank God
Love of my life
Angela My Soul Mate
Love of my long life
Everything I ever desires
Everything I ever needed
April 9
— Trump
The President of the United States
Republican Leader of the Free world
Uber ales nations
Muttering insanities
Preposterous Nonsensical tweets
April 10th,
Putin
Post Modern Leader
Uniting all the Russians
Triumphant against all enemies
Including the Great Satan
Nevertheless always living in fear
April 11
Hiking in the Spring Time Snow
Talking a walk in the mountains
In the spring time snow
Snow falling down all over the trail
As I wander through the hills
Breathing the early spring smells
And seeing the world covered in white magic
The last remnants of the winter’s touch
Before the spring time gambol of flowers
Overwhelms nature once again
Preparing for the summer’s hellish heat
April 12
Met My Fate Haiku
I met my late fate
In a bar room face one night
My fate started that date
April 13 -,
Learning I am part Jewish
Recently I learned that I was part Jewish
That was long rumored in our family tree
Never confirmed until DNA came again
But whether my Jewish ancestors lived
Or died in the holocaust I have not heard
Never again will we live through that pain
April 14 –
There is nothing more to be said
There is nothing more to be said
Nothing more I can add
Nothing more than this
I will love you
Until the end of time itself
and death does us part
April 15 –
Hiking the Hills of My Youth
I grew up in Berkeley, California in the 60’s. Ever since I was a youngster I would wander the hills of Berkeley hiking for hours by myself and sometimes with my friends. I explored every nook and cranny every corner of the hills and got to know nature in its infinite beauty.
Ever since those days, I have longed for the day that I could spend my days hiking and wandering in the hills. Now that I am retired and living in Korea I can go for a long walk in the hills every day I want. It is not the same as the hills I grew up, no vistas of the Bay and it is in Korea to boot but most days it is sufficient as I head out early afternoon and conquer four or five miles of hills just enjoying that fact that I can still move and am still very much alive at age 62!
I grew up hiking the hills of Berkeley, California
Grew up knowing every corner of the hills
And the infinite beauty of the Bay Area
And now I find myself in a strange land
With time on my hands
I wander the hills above the airport
In Incheon Korea
And wander about here and there
Just being grateful
That I am still alive
And kicking at age 62
April 16,-
Living with Pain (Hanibun)
Back in 1996 I had the accident that changed everything. I went jogging one morning. It was dark outside, and I thought that I knew the trail. Big mistake. I fell down a ledge hidden where the trail should have been. I shattered me heal in a million pieces. I was rushed to an ER and told that I need an emergency operation and would be bed ridden for four months.
My wife was in San Antonio at the time serving in the Army, I was in DC working for the State Department. I flew in a wheel chair to San Antonio where they proclaimed that they had to wait a week for the swelling to go down before they could operate. The Air force doctors wanted to try a new procedure – using shark cartridge as a bone supplement. The operation was a success until I quit taking antibiotics six months later. I was in DC by myself then. I went to the hospital for an unrelated thing -removal of a cist I think. But the doctors took one look at me and proclaimed that the staph had become a multiple drug resistant staph and I needed an urgent operation. The next day I had the third of 15 operations. I endured six months at Walter Reed hospital but that was in the 90’s prior to the wars of the 21st century filled the base up. They had few customers and I got to know the doctors well.
I know pain
Intimately aware of every ache
Every pain
Ever since that day
When I went under the knife
And had the 14 operations
That saved my life
But I am not one to complain
I became one with the pain
Which I endure to this day
Knowing that I am alive
Having cheated death
Twenty times in life
Waiting for the grim reaper
To finally claim me
But that day has not come
And until then
I will endure
April 17th –
Five Signs of the Apocalypse
One
Watching the evening news
Spin forth
the latest scandals de jour
The fake news and spin
The daily propaganda
And the utter destruction
of common sense
And reason
The thought comes to mind
Are we living in the end of times
Is the Apocalypse drawing neigh?
Two
The signs of the coming
of the end times
Have been endlessly debated
Among the
Christian right wing blog sphere
Ever since Israel was reborn
Apparently
triggering the cosmic count down
“According to Revelation 12, a pregnant woman will be hunted by a satanic seven-headed dragon eager to eat her unborn child. The woman will be clothed with the “sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. She brought forth a man-child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God and to his throne. The Scripture continues to explain that the “woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.”
But the pending eclipse is
another astronomical sign
the end is near
and that the Rapture is fast approaching.
….the image will be created in the sky on Sept. 23. …..Virgo represents the woman
in Revelations 12 who will be clothed in sunlight.
She will be in position over the moon
and under the nine stars and three planets.
….More importantly, to trust
the right God,” he reported to the publication. “If people want to be ready, the one thing you can do is accept what He has offered, which is the gift of grace and forgiveness. That’s all we have to do to be ready.”
Yet September 23 end
and the world is still here.
Are there other signs
that the end is near?
All of this
is speculation as Jesus said He didn’t know the date or hour when the Almighty would close the final chapter on mankind. Scripture clearly states in Mathew 24:36 that no one knows when the end will be. “But of that day and hour, no one
knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.”
Three
Yet the fear persists in my heart
As I watch the news
The days grow darker
Moment by moment
The light of reason
Seems to be replaced
By famines, rumors of war
and false prophets galore
All in according
to revelations
the false prophets claim
Gods plan
unfolding as we speak
“Things like wars, earthquakes, famine and technology (implanted microchips in our bodies already have been tested by BioNyfiken in Sweden) all point that we are moving toward Jesus’ return.
“The prophecy of Daniel 2 alone shows we are in the time of the end and all the other evidence proves we are in the very end times,” the site reported. They
indicated that the world was going to a 100 percent cashless system and how the “powers of this world are now trying to make cash obsolete, and are actively pushing pure electronic forms of payment, like PayPal and Google Wallet for instance. Take a look at the news and you will see this being reported in different countries of the world.”
Yes this has occurred already.
In India they wiped out the 100 rupee note
in an attempt to go cashless all at once !
and it failed.
Yes the signs are all about us
If only we have eyes to see
And ears to hear
And minds to understand
Four
“Non-Christians will find it hard to believe we are living in the last days of earth’s history. It’s in the Bible,
II Peter 3:3-4, TLB.
“First, I want to remind you that in the last days there will come scoffers who will do every wrong they can think of, and laugh at the truth. This will be their line of argument: ‘So Jesus promised to come back, did He? Then where is He? He’ll never come! Why, as far back as anyone can remember everything has remained exactly as it was since the first day of creation.’”
Yes, why has not Jesus come back?
Is that yet another sign the end is near?
They all say the coming of the Antichrist
is a sign of the end.
“It’s in the Bible, I John 2:18, NKJV. “
“Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour.”
What moral conditions will be characteristic of society in the last days? It’s in the Bible, II Timothy
3:1-5, NIV.
“But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.”
And this is so true in the era of Trump
and the new oligarchs who have taken over
The swamp monsters have come out
of the dark slimly corners of America
Proclaiming
it is their time to come out
And openly
rule the world
And the bible confirms
this dire prophecy
Five
“Talk of peace and safety are a sign of the last days. It’s in the Bible, I Thessalonians 5:2-3, NIV.
“For you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, ‘Peace and safety,’ destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.”
The gospel will go to the whole world and the end will come. It’s in the Bible, Matthew 24:14, NIV. “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”
Yes, I say on to you
When talk of peace in the world is upon us
When the Korean lions lay down their weapons
And proclaim their new found brotherhood
Perhaps the end times are finally coming to pass
“We have seen how seven biblically prophesied circumstances could not have come to pass until recent times. In fact, the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948 was clearly a major turning point in the fulfillment of Bible prophecy, as was the acquisition of the hydrogen bomb by the two superpowers of the 1950s that led to the period of mutually assured destruction.
All has now become possible. This, in turn, makes it much more likely that our generation will live to see Jesus Christ return and establish the Kingdom of God on earth. After all, Jesus Himself said that once these things begin, the generation alive at that time “will by no means pass away till all these things take place” (Matthew 24:34).”
And so, we close
Where we began
Fearing
that the end of the world
is coming
How it will end
is beyond anyone’s guess
Perhaps
the zombie apocalypse
will end civilization
More likely
nuclear war
and nuclear winter
Will doom us all
Perhaps a super volcano
Will blow us all to hell
Perhaps alien invaders
will take us over
Exterminating us
as we try to do
to the Native Americans
Perhaps
an AI will
take us over
Leading us
To terminator Land
Perhaps
the rapture will occur
And the grim events
In revelations
will come to pass
And perhaps
nothing will happen
We will somehow survive
The end times
But I am afraid
That the end times are coming
Sooner than we think
And so, the world ends
Much as it began
With a big bang
Or a soft whimper
God only knows
And he is silent as usual
April 18th
Emperor Surveys the Eastern Sea
The Emperor of the known world
Stood out on his balcony
In the eastern sea palace
Surveying the wilds of the Eastern Sea
Wondering who
or what lived across the sea
Or if there were lands there
As rumored by all
Lands ruled
by nameless
bearded ape like men
The Emperor of all the Lands
Ruled all the known world
From the imperial capitol
He had build in the dessert
He ruled all he could see
From the Eastern Shore
To the wild waste lands
Beyond the great wall
The Emperor had fought hard
Over the years
To unify the people
Under one banner
Fighting against the wild ones
Of the Western wastes
And their allies the witches
Of the inner world
And yet he was not satisfied
He knew that
he would have to lead
And expedition to the lands
Beyond the eastern Sea
And he could rest
Until he had finally
Conquered the known universe
Bringing it
under imperial control
That was his destiny
To rule the known
and unknow universe
As foretold by imperial soothsayers
And the prophetic books of ancient days
April 19 –
The General Unleashes the Kraken
General Lee
Stared out at the Eastern Sea
Wondering what was out there
On the other end
But today he had a mission
He was going to show
The Emperor
That his sailors had captured
The dreaded kraken sea monster
And had figured out how to ride it
And they were going
to release the kraken
As they put down
the latest rebellion
Among the restive folks
of the Eastern Shore
Who were resisting
becoming part of the Empire
The general ordered
Release the Kraken
And the kraken
A huge sea dragon
Came out of is dark dungeon
And two sailors climbed on board
And the Kraken
went into the ocean
And attacked the fishing
crafts of the villagers
Killing everyone in a few minutes
Of frenzied violence
The kraken came back
And the sailors
climbed off its back
And the kraken attacked them
Killing them
in a frenzied act of further violence
The emperor turned to the general
Very impressive
But needs a bit of work don’t you think?
The kraken looked up at the general
And screamed out curses
Saying
that the kraken
worked for no man
And that other kraken would be summoned
To revenge the attack on the kraken’s honor
And he leaped up
Grabbed the general and the Emperor
And dove into the ocean —
April 20, –
Plead to the Computer Gods
Today I woke up
As I usually do
To yet another mystifying morning
Of unspecified computer errors
Could not get the computer to work
Then when I finally got it to work
After an half an hour
Microsoft word did not load
And when it did
I finally located my work
From yesterday
I had to find it in the roaming file
Why?
Who knows?
Only to find
That most of what I wrote
Had vanished into the ether
No explanation no warning
It was there saved yesterday
And now gone for ever
Once I did an experiment
Tracking computer errors for a week
75% of the time I encountered errors
Most of the time simple
Screen freezes
no response message
Then when I recovered
the program
The data was gone
Microsoft has yet to respond
to my e-mail
I suppose I need to do it again
But today I will close with a prayer
To the Computer Gods
Just once I would like
You to do what you are supposed to do
Open my documents
Save my work
And not give me any errors
Crashes or other unspecified problems
Is that too much to ask
Oh, Computer Gods
Just once
Do what you are supposed to do
That is all I ask of you
April 21
Number of the Beast
Behold a vision
A nightmare
The legendary beast of revelations
Comes alive
Sniffs the air
Assuming the mantel of leadership
Turning into the Orange man
With unnatural hair
Spewing forth sweet sounding nonsense
Spraying hate with every word
Inciting the world into madness
He continues
into the halls of power
Walks down the street
Unleashing hell on earth
Soon all know
the number of the beast
666
As he prepares the world
To accept the anti-Christ
And all bow down
To worship their new master
As he leads the world
to hell itself
April 22nd –
The Neo Fascists are let loose
The Neo-Fascists are let loose
By their champion the man in Orange
Whose racist mutterings have let loose
The ranting nutty voices of the right
Championing their god given right
To rule and regulate
all that they see
April 23 -,
Life In-between
For years I have lived
In-between two worlds
Korea
where my wife’s
family comes from
And the Bay area
Where I grew up
and the laidback progressive
wild west coast
and the cutthroat
Dour eastern establishment
Washington DC
Where I worked for 27 Years
And I live between
My official duties
And my desire
To be a wild-eyed poet
And life in-between
Means you belong nowhere
Yet are everywhere
Always disoriented
Always half lost
Never really feeling you belong
That is life
Living in-between
April 25
Somonka for Angela
I have dreamt of you
For almost seven long years
And now you are here
What can I do about this
Only thing to do love you
You are all I want
All that I
need in this life
Thank to all the gods
For bringing you in my life
From now to the end of time
April 24
The Light Will Prevail
Mrs. Which says
This much we know for sure
Despite the lateness of the hour
And the growing power of the Dark Thing
In the end lightness will prevail
Defeating the dark one
April 24
62 Years young
I am 62 years young
62 years around the sun
37 of those years
I have spent
with the love
of my life —
April 26
Married Girl of My Dreams
I married the girl of my Dreams
first dreamt of her
back in 1974
Eight years later
she walked off a bus
and into my life
April 27 –
The Darkness grows
On distant Comazotz planet
The red eye one smiles
It is satisfied
The black thing is spreading
All the way to earth
April 28,
It is God’s will they say
It is God’s will they say
The neofascists and their ilk
It is the white man’s burden
To rule the unruly masses
To this I say
Never again
Will we let them
Take over the world
And lead us back
to the dark dangerous days
Of the Holocaust
Or the 19th century colonial era
Never again
Never again
Until hell freezes over
And the world ends
April 29—
Looking Out My Window
Looking out my window
In Incheon
What did I see
The neighboring apartment buildings
Obscured by the April rains
And yellow dust of early Spring
And in the distant the mountains
Aflame with spring colors
Beckoning me outdoors
Looking out my window
In Oregon
What did I see
Green trees
Silently watching me
And the cats gamboling along
Looking at me
While I look at them
Each wondering
what sort of weird creatures
The other is
And who
is the real alien species?
In Washington DC
Looking out my window
What did I see
I saw the squirrels
in the trees
And the peaceful trees
Of Capitol Hill
Near the seat of power
Yet somehow
I felt It all far away
In Suburban Virginia
Looking out the window
What did I see
I often looked out my window
At the trees and the jungle
In my back yard
And heard the distant roar
Of traffic on the busy suburban street
As people rushed to get to the freeway
In the early morning hours
In Madrid Spain
Looking out the window
What did I see
I looked out at
our Spanish neighborhood
Seeing the beautiful Madrid ladies
Walking down the street
Secretly admiring them from afar
In Barbados
Looking out the window
What did I see
The monkeys in the trees
Looking at me
Contemplating raiding my garden
As soon as I went away
In Seoul
Looking out my window
What did I see
The neighborhood
Alive outside my window
For so many years
In Seattle
Looking out my window
What did I see
I saw the ever changing green
Sea of trees
that is Seattle’s true color
The city is so lush and green
And alive with life’s
endless possibilities
In Stockton
Looking out the window
What did I see
The traffic moving
Through the dense fog
That often fell upon the city
Obscuring everything in its embrace
And growing up in Berkeley
Looking out my window
I saw nothing
But the dirt and trees
And shrubs
Of my ancestral home
And felt nothing
But loneliness
And a desire
To leave my home
As soon as I grew up
That is what I see
When I look out my window
Even to this day
I see where I have been
And wonder where I am going
As I stare out the window
Knowing that my life
Will surely come to an end
As I stare out at the world
Waiting waiting waiting
For my fate to unfold
April 30
In Search of America 1975 – Hitch hiking Tales
When I was young and foolish
Broke and stubborn
I hitchhiked across the USA
Started in Salt Lake City
Where my greyhound bus pass
Was stolen
The station manager
Could have helped me
But refused to do so
Threaten to call the cops
When I grabbed my bags
Without the stolen tags
I said
Go ahead
But I am
so out of here
Wondered about Salt Lake City
Went to a bar
Found I had to buy my booze
Next door
And they would
mix it for me
Had to order food too
After a bloody Mary
And a burger
I walked about town
Saw the Mormon Temple
Finally about 3 pm
It was time
to hit the road
Did not look back
Ended up in Cody Wyoming
Got a room shower
Steak beer
Using my rapidly
depleted cash
Spent 25 dollars
Money really went far
Back in those days
A band of professional
Communist agitators
Gave me a ride
To Des Moines
Lots of weed, booze
And politics later
Got off the road
Slept outside
Next day
A beautiful woman
Drove me to near Chicago
In a red mustang
Might have been
The girl in the song
Took it easy
Digging her vibe
She invited home
But was not sure
If her estranged husband
Would welcome me
So I being foolish
And inexperienced with women
Did not go to her place
And always regretted
That I had lost
My chance that day
Then on to Chicago
Several rides later
Visited friends
Hit the road again
A series of uneventful rides
With truckers
And others
And a week later
I ended in New York City
Slept along the way
In cars
In truck stops
In high way rest stops
Always moving
Always going
None stop talking
And lots of free weed
And beer
And conversation
One more memorable ride
Occurred outside Albany
On my return to Chicago
A middle age
creepy looking man
Picked me up
In a brand new Cadillac
He was
he said
a dynamite deliverer
For the Mafia
Went to various places
To blow up shit
He hated a lot of people
Particularly hippies
from California
And Jewish people
Looking at me to confirm
That I was both
I told him
that I lived in New York
And had never been
to California
And although
I might looked Jewish
As I had
what was called
back in the day
A “Jewfro”
I was not Jewish
Many years later I discovered
That I am indeed part Jewish
But then I did not know
And I felt a bit of
strategic misinformation
Might keep me alive
Then I realized
that he was just
jiving with me
And we relaxed
And he pulled
out some weed
And beer
And we mellowed out
But I believe
that he really
was with the mob
Perhaps not a dynamite dealer
A real made Italian
made mafia member
By Chicago
I had enough
I called my Dad
Told him what had happened
Wanted a ticket home
And he sent me a ticket
And 500 dollars
And I went home
I told him I would tell him
My tales some day
But never did
I learned so much
About my fellow Americans
And the strange vibe
That was 1975
in 2017, i participated in my first April month of poetry challenge. the goal, write one poem per day during the month and post them. i completed a bit more than 30 and posted them on Triferet journal @ http://tiferetjournal.com and on a special community Facebook page @https://www.facebook.com/tiferetapril2018poemathon/ .
as well as posting them daily on all poetry, writers digest and on my blog (which I did not have in 2017 and 2018.
I tried this year to experiment with more formal verse forms which is one of my creative goals this year. Writers Digest has a great list, as does All poetry, poetry Soup, Magnum Poetry Opus. For more info on formal verse forms see
I also added images and audio clips. For 2017, and 2018 I have gone back and revised them slightly adding in images and audio clips. I intend to turn these poems into my first published book of poetry.
Comments and feedback greatly appreciated. I intent to make this an annual creative project and keep going as long as I can.
Now to the 2017 Poems:
Index
April 1 Berkeley California
April 2 Lithia Springs
April 3 Walls
April 4 Changes
April 5 Facing Life’s Challenges Together
April 6 Wagontire, Oregon
April 7 Watching Cats Hunt *
April 8 Landlord Blues
April 9 Pane e circus 2017 Redux
April 10 Long Live Emperor Donald the Ist
April 11 3 Am Nightmares
April 12 Zombie Apocalypse
April 13 Spring Doositsu for Angela Poem a Thon
April 14 Love Jones
April 15 Kim Vs. Trump Twitter War
April 16 Why I am not a Christian Easter Thoughts
April 17 Love Haku *
April 18 Coffee Haku *
18 Spring Time in Oregon
April 19 Cats *
April 20 Secret Agency Man
April 21 COSTCO People Watching
April 22 The Dogs of War are Howling
April 23 Suburban Laundromat
April 24, I Want You Right Now
April 25 The Decline of America
April 27 Life is Wonderful
April 28 Sandwich Choices *
April 29 More Coffee Blues *
April 30 Rambling Man -Where Do I Belong?
Published
Audio Clips
April 1 to April 5
April 6 Wagontire
April 7 to April 12
April 10 to April 15
April 17 to April 20
April 20 to April 30
April 1
Berkeley California
Growing up in the 60’s
In Berkeley
almost 50 years ago
I think back
At those turbulent times
Those crazy wonderful times
Berkeley is a wonderful place
In many ways
Stuck forever in 1967
A true time travel experience
Every time I go back
And relive the memories
Of the 60’s
The 60’s never died
They continue
In college towns
Across the world
And Berkeley
Remains the mecca
Of the counter
cultural revolution
Many things have changed
But the organic food revolution
Became mainstream
Marijuana spread out
The sexual revolution
Became mainstream
So much of the world
Is but a reflection
Of the revolution of the 60’s
And the conservative
counter-revolution
That we are still fighting
So, I salute
My homeland
The center of my universe
April 2
Lithia Springs</strong
Staying at Lithia Springs
Soaking in the healing waters
Soaking my pains away
Renewing my life
Renewing my love
As we both soak away
As the pain of life go away
And our love grows
With each soaking session
Life is good
At the hot springs water
Sooths us
and smooth us
And we fall in love
Again and again
April 3
Walls
Trump wants a wall Between America and Mexico
A wall against the southern hordes
A wall based on fear and hate
A wall to make America safe
A wall to make America great again
And yet I wonder
Will his wall fall
Like the Berlin wall
And the great wall
And all the other walls
They all failed
All of them
Walls divide us
Walls make us
Into different tribes
Between the pure
And the impure
St Reagan, Said
Tear Down this Wall
Will future Presidents
Tear down this begotten wall
Or will it become a tourist attraction
Another great wall
Against barbarian hordes
April 4
Changes
I reflect upon my life
As the sun comes up
What could I have changed
What would I have changed
If I could go back in time
What would I tell my earlier self
What would I do differently
And what have I learned
The one thing
that I would not have changed
is meeting
the women of my dreams
the chance
meeting on a bus
that changed everything
in a moment
I met my fate
That day on the bus
And that
is the end of the story
April 5
Facing Life’s Challenges Together
Woke up at 0 dark hundred
Vowing to boldly go forth
And face
the challenges
of the future
Without fear
Knowing
that I have you there
Makes
all the difference in the world
As we meet our fate
Together
Until the day we die
And time takes us
Back to another world
Soul mates, together forever
We left Berkeley to go to Yakima
Where my father had a summer cabin
He was a college professor
And had July
and August off
And we spent the summers
Every summer from 1968 to 1978
Our whole dysfunctional family
Our annual road trip
to hell and back
As we did not get along at all
We decided to drive
through Eastern Oregon
Just my father and me
Just for the hell of it
The rest of the family
was already there
in Washington
waiting for us
My father and I shared a travel lust
One of the few things we shared
This was one of our best trips
We got along
Which was unusual
Normally our relationship
Was fraught
As we were so different
We left Klamath Falls
A real nothing burg
in those days
And headed east along highway 395
As we entered the desert
of eastern Oregon
We entered a different world
High mountain dessert
Almost
no one on the road
nothing on the radio
but country music
and talk radio
from KGO in SF
my father and I bonded
Learned a lot about his past
What he liked
And did not like
He hated country music
But loved news radio
And we talked about politics
And life in general
Just a father and son
Enjoying a rare
Father son
Bonding moment
We usually did not
get each other
I inherited too much
Of my Mother’s
wild Irish personality
To suite his dour Norwegian
Germanic personality
Then we saw the sign
Wagontire Oregon
100 miles ahead
Burma shave
We counted down the signs
Miles after miles
As we drove
into the gathering dusk
along with the wagon tire
countdown
were other signs
last gas for x miles
and the Burma Shave
road side signs
with their classic
cowboy poetry
slogans
which in 1975
were already
becoming
a thing of the past
had not seen those
since this road trip
but on this road
they still had them
every mile
Burma Shave signs
We speculated
that Wagontire
Must be a giant truck stop
In the middle of no where
And we drove on
Counting down the signs
Listening to dreadful country music
And endless political news
Wagontire 100 miles ahead
Burma Shave
Wagontire 99 miles ahead
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Last gas 90 Miles ahead
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Burma Shave
Wagontire 1 Miles ahead
Last Chance Gas, Food, lodging next gas 200 miles
Welcome to Wagontire, Oregon
Population 2 ½ humans 10 dogs, 50.000 sheep
We pulled into the town
Nothing there
but a gas station
Motel and café
We decided to stop
Last gas for 200 miles
According
to the highway signs
In the morning
We chatted with the owner
He was the sheriff,
the fire chief
The owner
of the motel,
gas station
The only business in town
And the only place open
For two hundred miles
Until the next town
John Day I believe
I asked the Sherriff
Say, who is the ½ human?
My idiot son!
And we left.
200 miles later
We finally
left Eastern Oregon
2016
In 2016 my wife
and I drove
through Eastern Oregon
As part of our epic
cross-country trip
first time for her
in Eastern Oregon
Idaho, Montana
Wyoming and many other states
last time I had visited
was during my epic road trip
with my father
summer of 1975
10,000 miles
31 states
in three months
to celebrate my retirement
On the way from Medford to Yellowstone
We drove along highway 395
The signs for Wagontire was gone
And we drove through the town
The motel was abandoned
Nothing there at all
And that sign
was gone too
and the Burma shave signs
long ago
faded into lost
Americana
On the radio
Nothing but country
Right wing talk shows
And Christian radio
I said I suppose the idiot son
Never took over the business
And we speculated about Wagontire
And all other nothing burgs
We drove through
that summer
Heart of Trump’s America
True fly over country
April 7
Watching Cats Hunt
Early morning
Watching two white cats
Hunting a white dove
The cats hunt in pairs
Tracking the bird
The bird flies away
Safe for now
And I think about the cats
And the hunt goes on
Such is life
And the fate of cats
And birds
April 8
Landlord Blues
I am a landlord
Owner of property
Here there
and elsewhere
Have been for years
Since 1989
When I bought my first duplex
I have tenants
and tenant
issues galore
I receive rent from the tenants
it seems money grows
on the proverbial tree
but at times
from time to time
I hate being a landlord
I suppose in my heart
I am a socialist
with a blending heart
But my wife
is comfortable
as a landlord
She calls me a hypocrite
And a wild romantic goat
Born under the sign of the goat
And I call her a capitalist pig
Born
under the sign of the golden pig
April 9
Pane e circus 2017 Redux
By order of his excellency
Emperor Donald the First
The merciful,
the Christian King of Kings
The Sultan of Sultans
The Emperor of North America
Be it hereby decreed
That the ancient honorable
gladiator games
Of the old Roman Empire
Have been restored
Each city in the Empire will host a team
They will compete for the honor
Of the national championship
The games will start
With fighting animals
Fighting fish
Roosters
Cheetahs
Tiger
Bears
Wolves
And lions
Then a man lion contest
With a heretic thrown to the lions
If he or she lives
They will be pardoned
Then then main games
Six men/women teams compete
Armed with swords, knifes, mace, clubs
They fight until one man or women remans
The victor of the game
Those who are prisoners
Can compete for their freedom
And a full imperial pardon
Let the games begin
Long may the games reign
In the new North America Empire
Praise be to the Emperor
Donald the First
April 10 Long
Live Emperor Donald the Ist
Ladies and Gentlemen
My fellow American citizens
Greetings and salutations
Today is a momentous day
The old corrupt USA republic is no more
The constitution that once protected us
Has been overthrown and violated
The barbarians at the gate
Have taken over
And ruined the once great land
The last hope of the world
And so, I had no choice
But to kill the old rotten regime
And restore American greatness
To save democracy
I must destroy it
And so, starting today
I will serve
as the Emperor of North America
I welcome Canada and Mexico
And the Caribbean islands
To join The North American Empire
As we rebuild America
Restoring American greatness
And making us all proud again
Proud subjects of the New American Empire
May the Empire reign forever and a day
Triumphant against all enemies
And so, I take this burden
Sadly, but gladly
I will serve you
As your Emperor
And my son Donald
Will serve as our second emperor
Once I pass from this world
His son will serve as the third emperor
And so on until the end of time
And we will reign
in our new capitol city
Colorado Springs
renamed New Rome
Until the end of time
Washington will remain in our hearts
As the capitol of the old Republic
But the heirs of the Roman Empire
Need a new Imperial Capitol
And soon we will conquer Mars
And expand our Empire to the Starts
Long Live the Empire
Long Live America
Good night
And may God Bless
This great Empire
April 11 3 3 Am Nightmares
3 am
The bewitching hour
When the wild things come out
And play
And torture you
With endless wild accusations
And nightmarish visions
As I toss and turn
Trying to escape
I look over at my wife
And as always
Repeat the mantra
Everything will be alright
And the wild things are banished
To the dark corners of my mind
And I recover my happiness
And I smile
As I look at the sleeping beauty
Still the most beautiful women in the world
Still the most alluring women in the world
Still in love with her
After 35 years
The love gets stronger and stronger
As she overcomes my despair
And the sun comes up
And I think to myself
What a wonderful life I have
With the women of my dreams
April 12
Zombie Apocalypse
Zombies to the right of me
Zombies to the left of me
Zombies ahead of me
Zombies behind me
Everywhere zombies galore
The end of the world had become
And the zombification
of the world had begun
Zombies to the right of me
Zombies to the left of me
Zombies ahead of me
Zombies behind me
No one knew when or where
the first zombies appeared
One moment zombies were just a collective
figment of our deranged imagination
The next moment we were all living
in a zombie apocalypse nightmare
Zombies to the right of me
Zombies to the left of me
Zombies ahead of me
Zombies behind me
Some said the zombies were created in a lab
Released by mad scientists and the military
Others said it was plague sent by God himself
To punish mankind
for tolerating evil and moral depravity
Zombies to the right of me
Zombies to the left of me
Zombies ahead of me
Zombies behind me
The Christians and Muslims prayed
But their prayers went unheard
As they too soon became zombies
Zombies to the right of me
Zombies to the left of me
Zombies ahead of me
Zombies behind me
The zombies hunted in packs
Overwhelming their victims
Killing most instantly
But some they simply bit
And turned them into fellow zombies
Zombies to the right of me
Zombies to the left of me
Zombies ahead of me
Zombies behind me
The zombies did not attack one another
They preferred living live flesh
Human flesh
but they ate everything they saw
Zombies to the right of me
Zombies to the left of me
Zombies ahead of me
Zombies behind me
And so, I ran into the countryside
With my fellow humans
Hit out deep in the woods
Hiding from zombies
And crazed cannibal gangs alike
Zombies to the right of me
Zombies to the left of me
Zombies ahead of me
Zombies behind me
The world ended that day
And our nightmare world began
Zombies to the right of me
Zombies to the left of me
Zombies ahead of me
Zombies behind me
April 13
Spring Doositsu for Angela Poem a Thon
Waking up seeing you there
Watching you as you wake up
Fills me with such sweat desire
Overcoming my mind
I sit watching you all day
Thinking of you all day long
Wild erotic imaginings
Love making to come
That old blues song come to mind
I just want to make love to you
I just want to make love to you
Nothing more than that that
I end this morning with this thought
You are still the most wonderful
The most beautiful creature
In the whole universe
April 14
Love Jones
I got the Love Jones, baby
And it won’t leave me alone
I got the Love Jones, baby
And it won’t leave me alone
I’ve been writing these love poems
All day long
And I have been dreaming
Of all the ways,
I could make love
To my secret lover
If only she will let me be
If only she will open her heart
And let me in
Perhaps the love Jones
Might leave me along
But I got the love Jones
Bad baby
Can’t you tell?
That the love Jones
Has grabbed my Soul
Twisted it up into little pieces
And I need you
To unravel the Love Jones
I need you to answer the call
Of the Love Jones Baby
I need you
To let me be free
Of the spell
Of the Love Jones
I got the Love Jones
Baby
I got it bad
And only you can
Put a stop to the love Jones
Baby
Let me enter your life
Put out the fire of desire
Send the Love Jones packing
And let me make sweat love to you
Oh, Love Jones
Go away
Let me be in peace
Love Jones
Leave me be
Baby
I got the love Jones
For you
Can’t you see?
What you do to me?
I got the Love Jones
Baby and it ain’t going away
Until I get to make love to you
Then perhaps this Love Jones
Will leave me be
Love Jones
April 15 Kim Vs. Trump Twitter War –
in memorial of Kim Il Sung’s the Great Leader’s Birthday
North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un waves from a balcony of the Grand People’s Study House following a mass parade marking the end of the 7th Workers Party Congress in Kim Il-Sung Square in Pyongyang on May 10, 2016. North Korea kicked off a massive parade in the centre of Pyongyang on May 10 to celebrate a just-concluded ruling party congress that was seen as a formal coronation for supreme leader Kim Jong-Un. / AFP / Ed Jones (Photo credit should read ED JONES/AFP/Getty Images)
President Kim, it is time that we cut the shit and cut a deal #Real Trump
President Trump, it is impossible for us to cut a deal unless you agree to me keeping nukes # Kim Jong-un the Great
President Kim, you know that if I want I can just make you disappear. You can be wiped off the earth in a moment. We know where you live #real Trump
President Trump, we have a nuke with your name on it on a boat sailing up the Potomac and it will blow your ass up any day now so don’t fuck with us. #Kim Jong-un the Great
Kim, your stupid Asian gook. Let me break it down for yah You threaten the US you die and all the North Koreans go to hell. Is it worth it? #real Trump.
Trump, you are so stupid. You are the worst excuse for a human being ever $ Kim Jong-un the Great
Kim, you are the stupid mother fucker. I mean what’s up with that idiot haircut of yours? $real Trump
Trump, I would not talk about hair, your orange haired mutant mother fucker. #Kim Jong-un the Great
Kim, it is all real baby and so are my wife’s boobs… #real Trump
Trump, let’s cut the crap and get down to business. How much will you pay us to get rid of the nukes? #kimJongun the Great
Kim, lets meet manor a mano and get it out on the table. No nukes no chems no bioweapons and no more political prisoners to start with #realTrump
Trump, we can discuss. If I can stay in power the rest is negotiable #Kim Jong un the great
Finally, the two of you are talking sense. About time #Xi the President of China
April 16
Why I am not a Christian Easter Thoughts
On Easter Sunday,
I often think about Christianity
I don’t understand why anymore
would believe such nonsense
The essential story makes no sense
An imaginary all powerful deity
that no one has ever seen or heard
Except for psychotic patients or Drug users
Comes down to earth
and impregnates a married woman
Who has never had sex for some reason
And her husband is okay with that
Believes her wild story
And still does not have sex
Until after the baby is born
Then there is total silence
Nothing about Jesus’s childhood
30 years later he emerges
Preaching love, peace and brotherhood
And denouncing the corrupt temple leaders
And the Jewish leaders as well
The miracles also don’t make any sense
In the real world,
you can’t turn fish into bread
Can’t walk on water
Can raise the dead etc. etc.
Just does not happen
In the world, we live in
And has not happen
since those ancient days
Then the last supper makes some sense
Jesus knows he is about to be betrayed
But he does not confront Judas
Does not run away
Does not encourage his disciplines
To run away with him
The whole Jesus Mary M story
Also, does not make sense
Jesus must have been married
Or he was gay
There is no doubt
Either way the story makes no sense
The crucifixion is the only part of the story I buy
Jesus was put to death because he was a rebel leader
And the Romans tolerated no dissent
To the Roman’s right to conquer and rule
The rising from the dead stories
All contradict one another
And Jesus was either walking as a normal human being
Or was a ghost
The door was rent open as if by lightening
Or not
Finally, we have been waiting over 2,000 years for his return
You would think if the story is remotely true
He would have turned up by now
Except he has
As many lunatics claim to be Jesus
in the flesh
all delusional of course
and that is what I think of Christianity
nothing but fairy tales and mass delusions
surrounding a kernel of truth
Love each other
Treat each other right
Don’t be consumed with greed
But couldn’t that message
Be made simpler
Without all the associated nonsense?
So, on this day I say
Open your minds
And discard the nonsensical elements
of Christian thought
And follow the true teachings of Jesus
Even if you don’t believe
in the imaginary man in the sky
April 18
Spring Time in Oregon
Spring has finally sprung in Oregon
Escaping from the longer winter prison
That has covered the land with snow
They say that this winter
Was a colder than normal winter
Wetter than normal
As the long drought finally ended
As nature resumed
its normal spring thaw
I rejoice
Seeing all the signs of spring
Especially the sight
of young beautiful women
Shedding their winter clothes
And walking about
in the spring sunshine
So wonderfully alive
So, beautiful and sexy
As they sashay about
Here and there
It makes me smile
All day long
Yes, I love Spring time
Everywhere in the world
But especially in Oregon
My new found second home
April 19
Cats
I often wonder about Cats
What do they think of us
It seems at time
That cats think of humans
As their slaves
We exist to feed them
To comfort them
To save them from their enemies
And to worship them
Yes, cats are an alien species
Totally different from humanity
Detached, and almost evil
If we ever encounter an alien civilization
God help us if it’s a cat based civilization
We would then be engaged
In the epic mother of all wars
As cats and humans would not get along
The cats would think we were their slaves
And we would resent and fear them
And secretly worship their alien ways
April 20
Secret Agent Man
Secret agent man
Where are you going?
What do you know?
And when did you know it?
What dark secrets do you hide
In your inner soul?
Do you even have a soul anymore?
Or has it been so compromised
That there is nothing left?
But lies, within lies with lies
Do you even know the truth?
Does the truth set you free?
Or is the truth just another lie?
That you tell yourself
I’d like to know
My secret agent man
Perhaps someday you well tell me
Your deepest darkest secrets
And reveal what the government is hiding
But perhaps I can’t handle the truth
So, keep you secrets to yourself
And let them die with you
As you go to your grave
Your secrets buried deep within
Your corrupted soul
Until the end of time
Reveals all
April 21
COSTCO People Watching
I love my COSTCO
I love going there to shop
But most importantly
I love people watching
Looking at people as they walk by
Wondering what their stories are
And covertly checking out
the beautiful girls
As they walk on by
And when they smile at me
It makes my day
Yes, I love my COSTCO
And COSTCO Loves Me back
Extracting my money
From my wallet
I go in for one simple thing
And walk out
having spent 500 dollars
Yes, COSTCO has my number
And loves me too
Long Live COSTCO
April 22
The Dogs of War are Howling
The Dogs of War
Have been set free
Of their cage
And are out
Howling at the moon
The Dogs of War
Have been set free
To wreck what havoc
Might be
Yes, the Dogs of War
The Hell Hounds
Have bound out of their cages
Sniffed about
And smiled
At the destruction, they saw
They knew soon
They would be in their element
As the world descends into chaos
The Dogs of war
Are at foot
The chaos is upon us
The evil grows and grows
And dark noises are heard
Here and there
And the dogs of war
Smiled
They knew soon
They would be in their element
The war machines
Came to life
The plans came out of the books
The military might be unleashed
And the Dogs of war
Smiled and howled at the moon
And the rest of the world
Shuddered
At the thought
of what was yet to be
Satan on the other hand
Was happy as can be
With the evil shit
That was going down
He smiled
Patted his hell hounds
And told his dogs
The war to end all wars
Armageddon is upon us my friend
Soon, mankind will know
The face of absolute evil
And they will love it
When I take over
The armies prepare
The bombers prepare
And the dogs of war
Are happy
Unleashed to do their mischief
And soon millions may die
And the pits of hell
will open
And the judgement day
May be upon us all
Madness descends upon the land
The fog of hate envelops us all
And reason and civilization
Fall away
As the Dogs of War
And their minions
Take over the minds of man
And the end of the world
And the beginning
of the end times
Come upon us all
And the US goes bankrupt
Morally and fiscally
And the evil that men do
Goes on and on and on
But the war machine must be fed
The munitions makers must be paid
As each million-dollar missile is launched
Millions more are made
And the corporations
Think of the endless profits
To be made
Every time they kill
With the war machines
But who cares about the victims
They are nothing but collateral damage
Who cares about the soldiers
Nothing but cannon fodder
Who gives a damn
About the dead
They are dead and gone
Just think about the profits
Think about the profits
Satan is happy
The dogs of war
are free at last
April 23
Suburban Laundromat – thanks to Don Teeter for the inspiration from a FB posting
Suburban Laundromat Scenes
Suburban laundromat
Anywhere USA
I often go to a suburban laundromat
Near my suburban apartment
I can sit in my car
Listen to jazz, classical or blues
On my car’s radio
And watch my machine
Doing its suburban laundry duty
Just spinning and spinning and cleaning
Doing its thing its laundry thing
The neighborhood is anywhere USA
Strip malls, apartment houses, townhouses
A fire station, a police station
Banks, cell phone shops
Restaurants from around the world
At the parking lot’s edge
As I approach I notice
Gentlemen of the off-grid class
Sitting among their Hogs
Stoned off the semi legal weed
Smiling at me
With an I don’t give a fuck attitude
That is somewhat contagious
They tell stories
Paranoid ramblings
Containing a kernel of truth
As they watch their clothes
Like a hawk
The clothes spin and spin and spin
As the laundry machine does its laundry thing
The machines don’t care about what we humans think
They just do their duty as the man says
Across the old run-down boulevard
The light rail line uses a right of way
That dates to the mid 1850’s
An old Indian game trail perhaps
That the white man turned into the first road
In these parts
People come and go
Some in cars
Some on foot
People from all over the world
Speaking languages from everywhere
But all understand English to some extent
And many understand Spanish to some extent
I feel everyone is united
Chiefly by their transience
And think back on old Latin saying
Sic transit Gloria mundi
And wonder if these are the end days
And ask the laundry machine
What does it think
The laundry machine pauses
Seems to think
And looks at me
Almost saying
WTF do you think
A laundry machine knows?
And so, I gather my items
Nod to the regulars
Who interrupt their endless paranoid arguments
Acknowledging my existence
And I stumble back
To my suburban apartment
Truly paradise on earth
April 24,
I Want You Right Now
I still want you
More than anything else in life
I want you
I want you next to me
I want you every moment
Of every minute
Of every day
I need you in my life
I need your wisdom
I need your kindness
I need your beauty
I need your special wit
And I need your ability
To deal with this cruel world
I need you to save me
From the demons
That haunt my Soul
For you are my soul mate
The only person
Whoever completed me
And made life worth living
April 25
The Decline of America
You see it everywhere
The unmistakable signs
That the decline of America
Is in full swing
And we have gone past the tipping point
There is nowhere left to go
But downward
As the Empire begins to collapse
Victim of imperial overreach
Like all empires before
The DC metro on a good day
Is a broken-down remnant
Of a once proud system
The future of mass transit
Its proponents said
The interstate highway system
Is falling apart day by day
The cost of rebuilding America mounts
And our politicians are afraid
That it will costs trillions of dollars
Just to prevent the US from collapsing
Into third world irrelevance
We have the world’s most expensive military
A million dollars per missile
And yet we can’t find the money
To provide decent health care for all
Bombs, and tax cuts for the wealthy
Are the only things
That the Republicans care about
And the world looks in amazement
At the clown boy President
As he struts about
Looking more and more
Like some Banana Republic
President for life
With his family
grabbing as much loot
As they can
From the federal government
Before the coming revolution
Overthrows them
When did we start this decline?
Some say 1960s started it
Others say Nixon’s to blame
Others claim that it was Carter’s fault
Or Saint Reagan’s fault
Or the other boy President GW Bush
Or Obama the fake American’s fault
Does it really matter
All I know
Is the America I knew
The can do anything country
Is alas no more
And I morn for our lost liberties
Our lost sense of purpose
Our lost sense that America
Was the last great hope of Mankind
And still I wonder
Can America be made great again?
As our President Trump proclaims
The end times approaches
Nuclear war is talked about
Another missile crisis
And instead of JFK leading the country
We have Donald John Trump
The one and only
The greatest con man
To ever get elected
And I fear the end is in sight
As America begins its decline
Will we be one country
Or will we erupt into a civil war
The right claims that the left has started it
And the left claims that the right has started it
And both sides claim that the civil war
Is inevitable
A fight for the future of our country
And so, it goes
The decline of empires
And I pray
That I may survive
The end of times
April 27
Life is Wonderful
This morning I woke up
Always a good thing
At age 61
I looked out my window
And saw a bright blue sky
Nice Spring time weather
Not a frown in the sky
Not a cloud to hide
The bright late April Sun
I looked over
And saw her there
As always
The nighttime anxieties fade away
And I realize once again
Everything will be okay
If she is with me
And I said to myself
What a wonderful day
April 28
Sandwich Choices
There are so many choices to be had
When ordering a sandwich
What kind of bread
What kind of meat or any meat
What kind of cheese or any cheese
Whether to have sprouts or not
Whether to have a pickle or not
Whether to go with a classic peanut butter
And something sandwich
I loved peanut butter sandwiches
As a kid
Peanut butter and sweat pickles were my favorite
Peanut butter and banana is good also
Peanut butter and strawberry jam
What a delightful memory
My current favorite
Is a BLT with sprouts, avocado, and kosher dill pickles?
Heirloom red tomatoes one slice per each half
Avocado one half per each half
One half pickle on each half
Bacon cooked just right – well done but not black
Sprouts and lettuce just right
Timamook Yellow smoked cheder cheese
On each half
On Gluten Free bread
with chipotle mayo
And Dijon mustard
Cut in half
Truly a sandwich made in heaven
And bacon makes everything
Taste so damn nice
And God if you are reading this poem
You had better prepare them for me
Or Heaven will not be worth it
Does Satan serve BLT sandwiches
I wonder
Probably not
Probably you become the bacon
In his hell sandwiches
April 29
More Coffee Blues
One morning as I drank my fake coffee
I needed to go out
and get a cup of real coffee
The fake coffee just did not do the trick
It tasted almost like the real thing
But just did not have that kick
And I needed it bad
I needed the real coffee buzz
I realized that I was a coffee addict
I tried to just drink decafe
But was boring
And almost as bad as the fake coffee
That I drank
Caffeine was bad for me
I knew it
But I craved the rush
Craved the intense buzz
Craved the hyperactivity
Kept me all day
And caused me nightmares
Sometimes for days on end
I knew I could not handle it
But like all addicts
I needed my coffee buzz
And so, I once more
Drank my drug of choice
And entered the coffee zone
As I fried my brain
With caffeine
The last legal drug
In neo-puritan America
And I smiled as I gave in
To the intoxicating smell
And flavor of my coffee
And surrender my free will
And drank my coffee
Waiting for the nightmares to come
April 30
Rambling Man -Where Do I Belong?
I have been a rambling man
All my adult life
Grew up in Berkeley, California
Went to College in Hayward and Oberlin
During my lost year
Lost in a fog of booze and pot
Then I came back to reality
And went to college
In Stockton, California
The central Valley
Ohio transplanted to California
Then after four years in Stockton
With extended weekends
and breaks in Berkeley
I became an expatriate wanderer
Peace Corps worker in Korea
Then taught ESL in Korea
For four years
Occasionally returning to my home
But always wanting to be elsewhere
Then back to Korea
And then Seattle for four years
Driving back and forth to the bay area
Stopping off in Southern Oregon
Eventually bought a house and duplex
In Southern Oregon
Vaguely thinking we would retire there
Some day when my rambling ways were over
Then back to Korea for three more years
Then I joined the Foreign service
And my wife the military
And I wandered the world again
Always somewhere
Always dreaming of my next somewhere
Never there
As I was a permanent expat
And a diplomat to boot
Never a local
But never really felt I belong there
Or in the America
That was becoming more and more
A foreign land
The longer I stayed away
I stayed on in DC for almost ten years
Off and on
But never really felt
that I belong there
I was too West Coast in my heart
And DC seemed to be
Just a place to stay
In between travels
Stayed in Thailand
Then later India
And Eastern Caribbean
And later Spain
Traveled to 45 countries
Lived in ten
And now I am retired
Still torn between
living the expat life
In Seoul, Korea
And returning to the West Coast
And occasionally back to DC
and Florida as well
And I wonder
Where do I belong
Where do I belong
Other than wherever
My wife and I end up
Neither here nor there
Half way there
And so is that my fate
Never to really belong
Never to have roots in the ground
Always wanting to be somewhere else
Always a stranger in my native land
And a stranger in my other home
Across the sea
There is no answer to these questions
As the rambling urge comes again
And I prepare to move yet again
Hoping someday I will be
I am writing to you to offer you my advice for winning the nomination and the Presidency. I believe you have the potential to be our next President and I hope you take this advice to heart. I would love to discuss it with you or your staff at an appropriate time.
I retired from the U.S. State Department in 2016 after 27 years of service. I grew up in Berkeley went to college at the University of the Pacific and graduated from the University of Washington (MA Korean Studies, MPA). I also served in the Peace Corps in Korea. I have been to 49 out of 50 states (minus Alaska) and 45 countries, including two visits to Jamaica.
My advice, in a nutshell, is to make this a generational change election like in 1960, and in 2008. Paint your opponent Donald Trump as yesterday’s candidate, and mock him, calling on Grandpa Trump to retire to Florida and play golf. Depict him as senile, out of touch, and focused on returning America to the 19th Century. And I would also call upon Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, and Elizabeth Warren to retire from the field and let the next generation battle it out to become the nominee.
You are the product of the 21st Century and proud of it. Embrace your multicultural roots and embrace the wonderful diversity of your home town Oakland. Embrace Californian values as American values for the 21st century.
Then regarding policy proposals
GO BOLD OR GO HOME!!!!
I would put forth a series of comprehensive bold future-oriented policies and reiterate them every chance you get. You could call them
Kamala’s Plan for the Future of America, or something along those lines.
Maybe
“Let’s Boldly Go into the Future,”
But be big, bold, brassy, optimistic and challenge your opponents to produce a better plan or shut up and work with you to solve the nation’s problems.
Call for Free College Education Coupled With National Service Requirements.
Call for all Americans to serve three years in public service either in the military or in the government or NGO sector and in return, they will get four years of college paid for. For recent grads, they can serve and get their college debt forgiven.
To those who say we can’t afford this, say we can’t afford to continue to put our college students in crippling debt they cannot afford. And everyone, especially the rich, should shoulder the burden of national service.
Call for The Green New Deal
Point out time and time again China, Germany, and other countries are building the green energy resources of the future while the U.S. which invented green energy is moving back to the 19th century.
When critics say we can’t afford this, tell them we can’t afford to ruin the world for our children’s future. We can’t afford to continue burning fossil fuels. Climate change is real and the U.S. must lead the way forward. That is what great nations do, lead the world in embracing change, in embracing the promise of the future. We can do no less.
Call to Fix Obama Care
Point out time and time again that we still have a broken down too expensive too burdensome a health care system. Point out time and time again that we have the most expensive system in the world yet we are about 25th in terms of health care outcomes. No one in this land should fear going bankrupt if they need to get medical care. We can do this right and we must do it right.
One potential fix would be to open the Federal Health Care system to anyone who needs insurance and continue to provide subsidies to keep the premiums down.
Another option would be an expansion of Medicare so it covers about half the country.
When Republicans proclaim that they will repeal Obamacare and replace it with something, call them on their bullshit. Demand to know the plan now or tell them to shut up and work with you to fix Obamacare.
Call to repair our alliances
Declare that our allies are our allies and our friends and we will work with them to solve the world’s problems and restore American leadership. We will rejoin the Paris Climate Change and work to make sure it works. We will rejoin the Trans Pacific Partnership.
Offer a New Deal to North Korea, Iran, Cuba, Venezuela
We will continue to negotiate with the North Koreans, offering them a way towards reunification with South Korea and rejoining the world economic community.
Offer to Talk with The Iranians
Tell the Iranians we are ready to talk with them and want a new deal that would benefit them and the U.S. along the lines of what we are offering the North Koreans.
Bring the Troops Home
I would call for most U.S. troops to return to the U.S., where they will be reposted along our borders and serve as adjunct border patrol agents and first responders as part of their mandatory new national service.
Rebuild America
I would gradually reduce military spending and devote resources to rebuilding America’s crumbling infrastructure.
This must include high-speed trains, and must include perhaps hyperloop technology or Maglev trains? And the next generation of airplanes as well. We must rebuild our mass transit systems. We must embrace the development of driverless vehicles.
When the Republican scream you are weakening national security call them out on their BS. Ask them how repositioning troops to help deal with national security issues at home weakens national security? How does going to universal military service weaken national security? How does getting out of endless wars weaken national security? How does closing a few bases in Europe weaken national security? Or closing a golf course? Or a commissary? Point out that we already spend more on national security than any other nation on earth. How does rebuilding America’s failed infrastructure weaken national security? Challenge them to produce a better plan.
Call for Comprehensive Immigration Reform
Start by acknowledging we need to improve security at the border but the wall is a waste of time and money that will not solve the problem. We need a comprehensive 21st century immigration policy that balances the need for continued immigration with the need to ensure that immigrants contribute to our country and enrich our country as they always have and always will.
Challenge the Republicans to come up a better plan and work with you to implement it.
Call For A Return To Space Including Lunar Colonies And Martian Colonies
It is time for the U.S. to lead the world again in space exploration. Offer to lead the way in building lunar and Martian colonies with the participation of the world’s other space powers.
Call for The Legalization Of Marijuana, Emptying The Prisons Of Marijuana Offenders
End the endless war on drugs. Repeal marijuana prohibition. Empty the prisons of marijuana offenders. End the private prison for profit system. End the prison pipeline that sweeps up brown and black youths and sucks them into prison for life. Reserve prisons for the most dangerous offenders, all other prisoners should be sentenced to community service, drug treatment or other non-prison sentences.
Use the money saved by closing prisons for rebuilding infrastructure.
Gun Control
I like your gun control proposals. It is a step forward. Continue to push for universal background checks.
Fully Support LGBT rights
Fully Support the religious freedom of all Americans including non-believers
Call for a Return to traditional American civil norms that Trump has so badly damaged
call on Trump to retire to Florida to play golf
regarding how to deal with Trump, gentle mockery is in order. it drives him crazy. just respond,
“there he goes again”. or, “time to retire, Old man.” “I hear that golfing is fun once you are retired.”
For VP Pick a Man
To get elected you need to appeal to men as well as women and to appeal to white people as well as minorities. So, for your VP pick, I’d be a bit cautious and go with a white man, perhaps a Hispanic man. I’d pick a governor from the Midwest. Perhaps the governor of Colorado? Picking Mayor Pete would be a bold move.
I think that you get my point by now. Be bold, inventive, optimistic, full of hope and energy and you will prevail.
Stay away from the professionals. Don’t play it safe. Be real, in your face, and authentic East Bay. Groove to Tower of Power on the campaign trail! Keep it real, my dear. 100 percent real you.
More Soul Power for You!
Be cautious, small-minded, narrowly focused and you will lose. In short,
Kamala, GO BOLD OR GO HOME.
Sincerely
Jake Cosmos Aller
703-436-1402
Jakecaller@gmail.com
NATO troops walk near burning NATO supply trucks after, what police officials say, was an attack by militants in the Torkham area near the Pakistani-Afghan in Nangarhar Province June 19, 2014. According to officials on Thursday, at least 37 trucks belonging to NATO forces were destroyed after three suicide bombers targeted the NATO supply trucks, with two civilians wounded in the attack. REUTERS/ Parwiz (AFGHANISTAN – Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS MILITARY TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) – RTR3UKDU
Dogs of War are Howling and other poems were published earlier in Synchronized chaos. I wrote the poem, “Dogs of War are Howling” in 2003, and updated it in 2017.
SYNCHRONIZED CHAOS.
Poetry from Jake Cosmos Aller
The Dogs of War are Howling
The Dogs of War
Have been set free
Of their cage
And are out
Howling at the moon
The Dogs of War
Have been set free
To wreck what havoc
Might be
Yes, the Dogs of War
The Hell Hounds
Have bound out of their cages
Sniffed about
And smiled
At the destruction they saw
They knew soon
They would be in their element
As the world descends into chaos
The Dogs of war
Are at foot
The chaos is upon us
The evil grows and grows
And dark noises are heard
Here and there
And the dogs of war
Smiled
They knew soon
They would be in their element
The war machines
Came to life
The plans came out of the books
The military might be unleashed
And the Dogs of war
Smiled and howled at the moon
And the rest of the world
Shuddered
At the thought of what was yet to be
Satan on the other hand
Was happy as can be
With the evil shit
That was going down
He smiled
Patted his hell hounds
And told his dogs
The war to end all wars
Armageddon is upon us my friend
Soon, mankind will know
The face of absolute evil
And they will love it
When I take over
The armies prepare
The bombers prepare
And the dogs of war
Are happy
Unleashed to do their mischief
And soon millions may die
And the pits of hell
Will open up
And the judgement day
May be upon us all
Madness descends upon the land
The fog of hate envelops us all
And reason and civilization
Fall away
As the Dogs of War
And their minions
Take over the minds of man
And the end of the world
And the beginning of the end times
Come upon us all
The usual lies descend upon the world
Kim Jong Un is evil personified
He must be destroyed over there
Before he can destroy us over here
The lies continue unabated
And Kim plays along
With each day unleashing another threat
With Trump and his minions
Responding in time
Saying the time for talk is over
The time for robust action is here
The machinery of war
Once unleashed
Can’t easily be stopped
There is a certain cruel logic
That demands that the war go on
And people die
And people suffer
And the US goes bankrupt
Morally and fiscally
And the evil that men do
Goes on and on and on
But the war machine must be fed
The munitions makers must be paid
As each million-dollar missile is launched
Millions more are made
And the corporations
Think of the endless profits
To be made
Every time they kill
With the war machines
But who cares about the victims
They are nothing but collateral damage
Who cares about the soldiers
Nothing but cannon fodder
Who gives a damn
About the dead
They are dead and gone
Just think about the profits
Think about the profits
Satan is happy
The dogs of war are free at last
Idiots in High Places
this poem has been published in a number of other sites.
Many years ago
I was amazed to find
So many idiots in high places
All over the world
People who should have known
A thing or so
because they should have seen a thing or so
and yet these idiots in high places
would reveal their total ignorance
every time they opened their mouth
or tweet or email their profoundly wrong thoughts
and it never ceased to amaze me
that few ever challenged these idiots
few ever said but you are wrong
or you don’t have a clue
and these idiots caused so much damage
to those around them
to the country and the world
and now we have the idiot in chief
in charge of the richest most powerful country
the world has ever known
and I wonder how in a country of 350 million people
we ended up with such an idiot in charge
But the idiots in high places phenomenon
Exists everywhere
Corporations made stupid decisions
Countries make incredibly bad decisions
All traced back to idiots in high places
And these idiots in high places
Can’t hide their ignorance and pure stupidity
They can’t pretend anymore
In a world of 24/7 constant news
The idiots every pronouncement
Fills the airways 24/7
And the only people who know better
Are too afraid to say what they know
That the idiot in high place
Is an idiot
and is destroying the world
and so, we doomed to die
due to the idiot in high places
Masters of the Universe
this poem also has been published in a number of sites.
The earth has been invaded
By hideous blood sucking vampires
Disgusting vile alien creatures
Devoid of all compassion
Lacking any human empathy
These so-called Masters of the universe
These psychopathic monsters
Are everywhere
They even took over the White house
And to these vile creatures
Everyone is nothing but a commodity
These alien monsters
Worship the god of the market
While proclaiming that they serve Jesus
Jesus would turn over in his grave
To see these people in action
Delta airlines
Facing the worst hurricane in world history
Decided that the expeditated thing to do
Was raise prices 600 percent
Instead of doing the right thing
The compassion thing
The human thing of offering free flights to all
Delta executives thus demonstrated
That they are no longer human
But greed driven monsters
As are all the other soulless automatons
Who have taken over the world
Perhaps some day
Jesus will come back
And smite these motherfuckers
Send them to the hell they so richly deserve
We can only pray
For our deliverance from such evil
From the soulless evil masters of the universe
Who have taken over the planet
Yet again we turn on the TV
And witness horrible scenes
Of unparalleled violence, hatred and despair
An old man consumed by his own demons
Opens fire from a hotel room
Killing 60 people injuring hundreds
In Las Vegas, Sin City
And the cry goes out throughout the land
Why yet again this tragedy
The usual suspects are rounded up
It’s the culture, stupid cry the conservative voices
And there is nothing we can do
It is like the weather
Bad shit happens
Guns are the price of our freedom
Guns Don’t Kill People
The only solution is more guns for everyone
The only solution for a bad guy with a gun
Is a gun guy with a gun?
An armed society is a polite society
And people need assault weapons
To go deer hunting
No, it’s the guns, cry the liberal pundits
We must confiscate the guns
Ban Assault weapons
And join the rest of the world
Where such carnage does not occur
And we sit around and argue
Knowing that there will be a next time
And another time and time and time again
Until the end of time
What is the sickness in our souls
That allows for this hatred to fester so
Deep within the minds of our killers
And why is it that they are almost all
White men with a grievance
And almost never crazed Islamic terrorists
Or black people
Or women
Why do they act the way they do
Is it just the mindless violence
That surrounds us all
Violence is as American
As Apple Pie
The TV and movie purveyors
Of pornographic violence
The pornographic display of violence
That washes across us every day
The 8,000 murders we have seen
By the time we are 18?
Or is it simply
That killers can easily
Get the latest bang for their buck?
We are all responsible here
The negligent parents
The overworked schools
The soulless corporate world
That treats everyone like disposable commodities
The lack of human connection
Maybe even the lack of God
The police department
Who think it is open season
On black Americans
Killing them with impunity
Because they can
And the gun sellers
The NRA and their brain dead
Captured politicians
Who block all gun control legislation
And even in the face of this carnage
Want to make it easier to buy guns
Even though 95 percent of Americans
Want to end the gun show loophole
Requiring background checks on all purchasers
The NRA will prevent this measure
And that measure
And defend the right of the terrorist
On the no fly list
To be able to buy a gun
Nothing will change
Until we conflict the evil
That lurks deep within each of us
There will be another Las Vegas
Soon enough
Despite all our efforts
Despite any new laws
There will be evil men
Who want to shoot and kill
Who have somehow lost
Their essential humanity
Lao Tzu said
The more laws there are
The more criminals there will be
More laws are not the answer
For a law cannot make a sick soul whole
If Satan lives on
He is laughing
All the way to the proverbial bank
If God lives on
He is ruing the day
He created Mankind
And the carnage will go on and on and on
Until the day emerges
When we all proclaim
Enough, no more
The killing, hatred and violence
Will stop
No More will our people
Grow up to be such monsters
That day will come soon enough
Until then we will all suffer
The wrath of the killer gun men
In our midst.
End of the World Blues
A motorists on Highway 101 watches flames from the Thomas fire leap above the roadway north of Ventura, Calif., on Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2017. As many as five fires have closed highways, schools and museums, shut down production of TV series and cast a hazardous haze over the region. About 200,000 people were under evacuation orders. No deaths and only a few injuries were reported. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)
The heat is simply malevolent today
As if the very fires of hell were burning bright
In anger at the idiots in high places
That have so destroyed God’s wonderful creation
Turning it into Hell on Earth
It’s been hotter than this, I know,
and maybe it’s just the angle of the sun,
but there’s a deeply harsh quality to it.
As the world burns up
And the end of the world approaches
The wind is blowing hard off the hills
and visions of a great fire 26 years ago
are spiking in my memory.
People are reacting badly to this weather
The commute in was hellish
Every seemed to be speeding way
above the speed limit.
Driven mad by the heat and the wind
There were multiple stalls and accidents.
People were cutting each other off
and road raging in the extreme.
Every man woman and child
Was out for blood that day
I was missed by inches twice
by huge pickup trucks cutting me off.
There are more street people
acting aggressively near the campus,
barking and yelling and stalking around.
Completely lost in their own world
Sensing that the end of the world is near
Students in the hallway
aren’t chatting with each other.
Everyone seems irritated
and haunted.
Afraid that the end of the world
Is upon us all
The pool was a cool, silent refuge
from all of this for an hour,
but the brassy relentless
assault of the afternoon’s heat
bore down on me
just beat me down
as I walked back to the office.
I hope the day passes quickly,
and no new fires start,
and we all get home safe.
From Ned Garret’s FB posting:
Has anyone else notice that the heat is simply malevolent today? It’s been hotter than this, I know, and maybe it’s just the angle of the sun, but there’s a deeply harsh quality to it. The wind is blowing hard off the hills and visions of 26 years ago are spiking in my memory. People are reacting badly to this weather. The commute in was frightening in spots. Every other driver seemed to be speeding way above the speed limit. There were multiple stalls and accidents. People were cutting each other off and road raging in the extreme. I was missed by inches twice by huge pickup trucks cutting me off. There are more street people acting aggressively near the campus, barking and yelling and stalking around. Students in the hallway aren’t chatting with each other. Everyone seems irritated and haunted.
The pool was a cool, silent refuge from all of this for an hour, but the brassy assault of the afternoon just beat me down as I walked back to the office. I hope the day passes quickly, and no new fires start, and we all get home safe.
Comments
While I acknowledge that “Dogs of War” in some ways reflects the grim scenarios currently at play in our shared world, I haven’t yet given up hope that the crumbling of the existing order we are witnessing might also represent the chaotic transition to a new and (hopefully, eventually) brighter future…if only because it’s difficult to live in despair.
Also, when it comes to destroying the world, let’s not forget that we of USA are more capable of nuclear destruction than North Korea. Our arsenal is larger.
Congratulations on your vivid poetic imagery. Keep writing.
When I launched the “World According to Cosmos”, the original idea was that it would be 60 percent poetry and fiction, 10 percent travelogue and 30 percent political rants. This is my first rant of many to come.
in it, I take down Anne Coulter’s defense of Presdient Trump’s Wall
I can’t think of more deserving person for an epic take down than Anne Coulter. She is a perfect example of what
I consider to be a purveyor of fake outrage.
Fake Outrage
(from my chapbook, “Fake Things”
Provide link here
Both sides unfortunately
Are guilty of the fake outrage
The Republicans have perfected the art
Of creating false outrage
That they push out over the internet
And on FOX news 24/7
The underlying facts
Don’t matter at all
All that matters
Is stirring up the base
The recent caravan is a perfect example
There was no crisis
A large group of Hondurans fleeing poverty and violence, move in a caravan toward the United States, in San Pedro Sula, Honduras October 13, 2018. REUTERS/Jorge Cabrera – RC139B215990
7,000 migrants were coming to the border
Fleeing violence in Central America
This was not the first caravan
Many caravans have come before
And before Trump and his acolytes
Turned on the fake outrage machine
No one had ever thought
That these caravans
Were a national security crisis
Or that there was a crisis
Overnight the caravan
Became this huge menace
This huge bogyman
Dangerous criminal aliens
And terrorists
And scary brown people
Were attempting to invade
The U.S.
If we did not stop them
At the border
Right fucking now
They would overrun the country
Raping innocent woman
Robbing people
Killing people
Committing terrorist bombings
The only problem with this fake narrative
Is that none of it
Is remotely true
There was no crisis
On the border then or now
The majority of the refugees
Were woman and children
There were no criminals
Or terrorists among them
And our intel people knew this
Knew that the president
and his acolytes
Were lying their teeth yet again
Making a proverbial mountain
Our of a mole hill
The democrats
Have yet to figure it out
The perfect response
Oh there goes Donald
Off his rocker again
Off his meds
Making a mountain
Out of a mole hill
There is no crisis
Everything is under control
Donald is just being unhinged again
Does not know what the fuck
He is doing or talking about
That should have been their response
In short
The democrats
Should have openly
mocked Trump
Pointing out yet again
The emperor has no clothes
Laughter is the best tackle
To deal with a clown like Trump
But the democrats
Have their own fake outages
Every day
Proclaiming Trump
To the be second coming of Hitler
And they are the resistance
Trump is not another Hitler
He is a con man, a grifter
Who someone conned 26 percent
Of Americans to vote for him
And we will survive him
And perhaps sanity will slowly return
But the fake outrage industry
Will probably continue
As we have all become addicted
To our latest outrage of the day
And she is a vile, disgusting piece of work. Unfortunately for us all, she has the President’s ear. And it because of her pernicious influence that we have the Trump shutdown debacle. Yes it is all on her.
She published an op ed on the wall. I will now deconstruct her arguments, one by one. When I am finished tearing her apart, I will send it to her with a link to my web page. Hope you enjoy the take down and feel free to share and comment as well. As usual, I ask that you be civil in your comments. But I will not be civil in this take down as she does not deserve to be treated in a civil manner.
Ann Coulter
|
The media are trying to convince Trump that if he abandons the wall, he’ll be a statesman, so that as soon as he folds, they can start making fun of him as an untrustworthy liar.
Comment:
Everyone knows that Trump is an untrusty liar. The media don’t need to do much convincing him. He will never be a statesman it is not in his DNA.”
end comment:
Everyone knows that we can never have a secure border without an impermeable barrier — something like a wall — across all of it. The Democrats know it, the voters know it, and the millions of illegals hurtling toward our border like cannonballs know it.
trump’s wall
the great wall of China
Comments:
The Great Wall of China did not prevent the Barbadian hoards from flooding across Roman Britain.
Nor did the Berlin Wall keep the East Germans inside East Berlin. Walls by themselves are not impermeable and they do not provide 100 percent border security. Everyone who has studied Trump’s proposal realize that it will not work and cost a lot of money and there are cheaper ways to accomplish the goal. The biggest problem though is it does not address the fact that the vast majority of illegals came to the US via valid visas. As long as comprehensive immigration reform is not enacted, the wall will join the list of failed Great Walls of the past. And this is something the democrats know, the voters know (60 percent oppose it, Ann, get your facts straight) and the illegal aliens know it. By the way they are not cannonballs hurling towards the border but human beings fleeing unmanageable horrors. What would Jesus do? He would not build a wall for sure. End comment
The Democrats’ latest idea is to call a wall “immoral, ineffective and expensive.”
Comment: it is indeed immoral, ineffective and expense. It is also racists, fundamentally opposed to the values of our country and violates international laws and norms, and basic human rights and our Christian ethos (for those of us who claim to Christian). End Comment
If they think a wall is “immoral,” then they’re admitting it’s effective. An ineffective wall would merely be a place for illegals to stop and get a little shade before continuing their march into the United States.
Comment: What does this even mean? Something can be immoral but effective. You are right though; a Wall would provide much needed shade in the dessert heat and probably not prevent the illegals from marching under the wall to enter the promised land. End Comment
Democrats’ backup argument is to cite — every four minutes on MSNBC — Trump’s claim that Mexico would pay for the wall. We’re all baffled by Trump not having already taxed remittances to Mexico to pay for the wall (100 percent within the president’s authority under various banking regulations), but if we’re going to start listing the promises Trump hasn’t kept, this is going to be a long column.
In point of fact, however, he never said Mexico would pre-pay. We can tax remittances anytime.
Comment: I call Bullshit on this. Trump said so many times that Mexico would pay for the wall. Two Mexican Presidents in a wall said that Mexico would never pay for the wall. Taxing remittances might raise money for the wall, but the Mexican government would not be paying the tax so they would not in fact be paying for the wall. And you are also wrong – Trump said that the Mexicans would pay for the wall full stop. That means that the government of Mexico would pay the entire cost of the wall. Get your facts straight, my friend. End comment
To keep the Third World masses flowing across our un-walled border, the media are demanding that Trump agree to nonspecific “border security.” It’s like ordering a Starbucks and instead of getting a coffee, you’re told to have more “pep.” Now move along. Here’s your change.
Comment: First of all, substantial parts of the border have border fencing, or drones flying overhead. It is hardly un-walled. About half of the border has some sort of fencing along it. I have been there and seen the border fencing up front. It is there and it is effective.
The democrats are indeed open to improving border security and spending money for it. Your analogy is strange. I don’t get it. End comment
Would liberals accept such airy statements of intent in lieu of clear legal commands for any of the things they care about? (Not to be confused with “our country,” which they do not care about.)
Comment: come on Anne. This is too much. The democrats do care about our country. They want out country to live up to its ideals and to the rule of law and the constitution and all the things that make our country great. Again, I don’t quite get the rest of your comments. What airy statement of intent are you talking about?”
End comment
Instead of EPA emissions standards, with specific parts per million of pollutants allowed into lakes and rivers, how about a law promoting “enhanced appreciation of God’s bounty”? Emissions standards are immoral and ineffective!
Comment: WTF are you talking about? How are EPA emission standards even relevant? And how are they immoral and ineffective? And a law promoting “enhanced appreciation of God’s bounty” would be irrelevant and unconstitional. Again, I don’t understand your tortured analogy. End comment
Nearly every Republican presidential candidate tried to con voters with these meaningless catchphrases about “border security.”
Comment: So, you are saying that St Reagan, Bush 1, Bush 2 and Trump all tried to con the voters with false meaningless comments about “border security” ? What about Clinton and Obama ? they talked a lot about border security. And both deported a lot of people, particularly Obama. In fact, under Obama we had a net outflow of illegal aliens and record law apprehensions. Those are the facts. Google them yourself.
End Comments
Here are The Des Moines Register’s summaries of some of the candidates’ positions on immigration a few weeks before the 2016 Iowa caucus:
Jeb Bush: “has called for enhanced border security.”
Marco Rubio: “proposes … improved security on the border.”
John Kasich: “believes border security should be strengthened.”
Chris Christie: “urges … using technology to improve border surveillance …”
Rand Paul: “would secure the border immediately.”
Carly Fiorina: “would secure the border, which she says requires only money and manpower.”
They all lost.
Comment: they all lost. And they all made specific proposals to improve border security. None of them though call for an “immoral, ineffective and expensive wall” because they knew that like the Great Wall and Hadrian’s wall it would not solve the problem. End comments
The guy who won: “Trump has said many illegal immigrants are rapists and are bringing drugs and crime to the United States. He has called for building a wall along the southern border, and has said he would make Mexico pay for it. He said he would immediately terminate President Barack Obama’s ‘illegal executive order on immigration.’”
Comments:
First, most illegals are not criminals or rapists or drug dealers. I fact illegals commit far fewer crimes than native born Americans. That is a fact. Google it. He did call for a border wall and did say that Mexico would pay for it. So, the Media is right to point out that he said many times that Mexico would pay for the Wall and that the Mexican government said many times that they would not pay for the wall.
President Obamas illegal executive orders were not in fact illegal orders as the President was merely ordering the Border patrol to prioritize apprehension of illegals to focus on apprehending criminal aliens, and allowing the Dreamers to stay under a variation of protected status which the President and DHS can do and have done many times for classes of people fleeing wars and national disasters. These are all within in his powers as President. So, they are hardly illegal executive orders unlike Trumps “Muslim bans”. End Comment
Trump got more votes than any other Republican in the history of presidential primaries. No one was falling for “border security” then, and they aren’t now.
Comments” WTF? Trump has been talking about border security in every speech he has made since he ran for President. I hardly think that the voters were falling for border security. Border security and building a wall are not mutually exclusive categories. End Comments.
But instead of doing what he said and building a wall, Trump has hired people who don’t even grasp that the point is to make it unattractive to break into our country.
On ABC’s “This Week” last Sunday, Trump’s head of Customs and Border Protection, Kevin McLennan, announced plans to give illegal alien kids free medical care at the border: “What we’ve done immediately, (Homeland Security) Secretary (Kirsten) Nielsen and I have directed that we do medical checks of children 17 and under as they come into our process.”
Comment:
Talk about immoral. Even illegal immigrants should be treated with compassion and given minimal medical care before being admitted and processed. This is fundamental and what Jesus would have done. Anne I know you claim you are a Christian. Why don’t you act like it for once?”
End Comment:
Apparently, our working class is rolling in so much free health care that now our country is diverting medical resources to treat other countries’ sick kids.
Comment:
You got it wrong. All DHS is doing is providing routine medical care for immigrants who have crossed the dessert and are in danger of dying if they don’t get water, food and first aid. This has nothing to do with diverting resources from the regular medical system. And we can afford it. Comment
McLennan boasted that we — that’s you, taxpayer — will be providing “doctors, physician assistants, paramedics to do an initial intake check so that we know if a child is healthy as they arrive at the border and then make sure they can get medical care if they need it.”
Comment:
What’s wrong with this? Would you rather we let them die? You are comfortable as a Christian letting children die? End comment
Luckily, this won’t hurt any Americans because the doctors they’re sending to the border are not currently treating any U.S. citizens. Oh wait! This just in: They will be taken away from sick Americans!
Comment: Again, I call BS. We can treat immigrants at the border, provide basic medical care and then process their applicants according to law and standard procedures. And this does not take away from providing health care to American citizens. End comment
(Possible 2020 Trump campaign bumper sticker: I voted for a wall and all I got was free checkups for illegals.)
Comment: Again, I call BS. Nice slogan though. How about this one?
“I voted for a Wall that does not work – and cost billions of dollars. “
end comment
Doctors aren’t like the Petroleum Reserve. We don’t keep them cryogenically frozen, waiting to be unfrozen so they can treat illegals demanding free medical care as the price of hating us. If we rush doctors to the border, they are being rushed away from Americans who need medical care.
Comment: Interesting but false analogy. We have enough resources to divert a few doctors and nurses to the border. We are not taking away medical care from Americans. End comment
How about Democrats compile a list, by name, of the Americans they would like not to see their doctors anymore?
Comment:
Again, a ridiculous false analogy. We are not diverting doctors from seeing American citizen patients. End comment
As a result of this boundless compassion for anyone who is not an American, how many more sick kids are going be dragged by their parents across hundreds of miles of desert just to see an American doctor?
Comment:
This is also a ridiculous analogy. Immigrants are fleeing horrific violence and poverty at home just to provide a safe haven for their children. They are not coming to the US for free “medical checkups”. End comment
Mexican cartel member to poverty-stricken Latin American:
Before setting off on this caravan, I want you to know that when you get to the border your kids will be held up for a medical check. And if they find anything wrong, your child will be given First World medical treatment. Also, you won’t be allowed to pay. I just want you to understand what you’re getting into before you join this caravan.
Comment: again, ridiculous statement. Do you have any evidence that the cartel organizers are promising people free medical check ups in the US? And do you have any evidence that the provision of free medical check ups is the primary motivation for the caravan migrants to risk their lives to flee across the dessert? No, you do not because there is no such evidence. You pulled this statement out of you xxxx…. just like Trump pulls a lot of his nonsensical statements. End Statement
And when those kids die, Secretary Nielsen can demand more free medical care for illegals breaking into our country. Instead of having a wall, we’ll have a series of interlocking charity hospitals on the border treating the poor of the world before crossing into a country that didn’t ask for them and doesn’t want them.
Comment:
Again, I call BS. No one is talking about providing massive medical care for illegal aliens crossing the border. All they are trying to do is treat the illegal aliens with compassion, and decency and provide minimal medical service, water and food for them before processing them for either deportation, or asslyium. All in accordance with standard procedure, American values and yes Christian values. End Comment
Sorry, America. You lose again.
Comment: On this I agree. America indeed is losing due to misguided policies that you promote. Why don’t you spend your time on promoting real solutions to the problem like real border security, comprehensive immigration reform and effective foreign ad to central America so that those countries can prosper and illegal migration will no longer be seen as the only course of action? End comment
A large group of Hondurans fleeing poverty and violence, move in a caravan toward the United States, in San Pedro Sula, Honduras October 13, 2018. REUTERS/Jorge Cabrera – RC139B215990
Both sides unfortunately
Are guilty of the fake outrage
The Republicans have perfected the art
Of creating false outrage
That they push out over the internet
And on FOX news 24/7
The underlying facts
Don’t matter at all
All that matters
Is stirring up the base
The recent caravan is a perfect example
There was no crisis
7,000 migrants were coming to the border
Fleeing violence in Central America
This was not the first caravan
Many caravans have come before
And before Trump and his acolytes
Turned on the fake outrage machine
No one had ever thought
That these caravans
Were a national security crisis
Overnight the caravan
Became this huge menace
This huge bogyman
Dangerous criminal aliens
And terrorists
And who know what else
Were attempting to invade
The U.S.
If we did not stop them
At the border
They would overrun the country
Infesting the country like vermin
Raping innocent woman
Robbing people
Killing people
Committing terrorist bombings
The only problem with this fake narrative
Is that none of it is remotely true
There was no crisis
The majority of the refugees
Were woman and children
Fleeing unimaginable violence
nightmarishly real
There were no criminals
Or terrorists among them
And our intel people knew this
Knew that the president
and his demented acolytes
Were lying their teeth yet again
Making a proverbial mountain
Our of a mole hill
The democrats
Have yet to figure it out
The perfect response
To the Donald is to mock him
Oh there goes Donald
Off his rocker again
Making a mountain
Out of a mole hill
There is no crisis
Everything is under control
Donald is just being unhinged again
Does not know what the fuck
He is doing or talking about
That should have been their response
In short
The democrats
Should have openly
mocked Trump
Pointing out yet again
The emperor has no clothes
Laughter is the best tackle
To deal with a clown like Trump
But the democrats
Have their own fake outages
Every day
Proclaiming Trump
To the be second coming of Hitler
And they are the resistance
Trump is not another Hitler
He is a con man, a grifter
Who someone conned 26 percent
Of Americans to vote for him
And we will survive him
And perhaps sanity will slowly return
But the fake outrage industry
Will probably continue
As we have all become addicted
To our latest outrage of the day
Fake President
In this day and age
Where fake things
Have replaced real things
And no one is real anymore
It is appropriate
That we have as our leader
A Fake President
The President appears to be human
But in reality
He is nothing but a fake
A con man
A huge grifter
Who ran as a successful business man
Who turned out to have been
Nothing but a con man
All his life
And the biggest con of all
Was becoming President
Where instead of acting Presidential
He spends his time
Plotting ways to make money
Out of his new found power
And plots with his buddy Putin
To destroy America
Hastening the terminal decline of America
And even risking a civil war
And yet this fake president
Can’t be removed from office
Because of all his enablers
His corrupt Republican Leaders
Who know he is a fake
Know he is a dangerous lunatic
Yet do nothing to remove him from power
And so it goes
Day by day
The rot sinks in
The America I grew up in
Is burning down
Led by the fake man
In orange
Cheering as the flames burn
And the US descends into chaos
And so, I close this poem
Crying as the US Dies
Under the leadership
Of our Fake President
Fake Humans – The Lizard People Take Over
Some people say
On the internet so it must be true
That the world’s leaders
Have been taken over
And are fake humans
From another planet
In reality
They are shape shifting aliens
Lizards from another planet
Draco or Sirius or the Dog Star
And some days
As I watch our fake President
Pretend to be President
As he mails it in
I wonder
Is he a shape shifting
lizard alien overload
That would explain a lot
And makes some sort of perverted logic
For in a world
filled with fake people
Having fake humans
Running the world
Is poetic justice
And as I close this poem
I look at the TV
And I swear
It is true
Our leaders are all fake humans
Shape shifting alien lizards
Merry Christmas, World, From Your Friend, President T. president trump
President T
The greatest president
In the world
Who has gotten more done
Than any president before him
The smartest president in the world
Who had the best words
Of all Presidents
Who knew more about everything
Than any other President
Looked out at what he saw
In late December
And realized
He still had not yet achieved
His dream of building a great wall
To keep the brown people out
And America was not yet great again
Still too many libtards protesting
The fake media still screaming lies
Foreign governments still refusing
To obey his commands
+
He was the leader of the world
Did’nt they get that?
Ungrateful ingrates
Taking American money and jobs
At the direction of the damn Globalists
Who have infiltrated his own government
Hmm well he still had a few surprises
He would shut down the government
He would fire his generals
Bring the troops home
And wall street would rejoice
The stock market would bounce back
Congress would once again
Do their part
And pass his legislation
As he showed them
And the world
Whose was boss
And so,
President T
Gave his Christmas gift
To the grateful country
+++++++++++++++++++++++Shutting down the government
Firing the generals
Announcing he was pulling the troops back home
Cancelling all pending green energy reforms
Because Americans wanted to buy
Gas guzzling cars
their god given right after all
Now that we were the kings
Of energy again
Who gave a damn
About climate change
It was all a hoax
by the Chinese and the Global elites
And on Christmas eve
The market tanked
And the great depression loomed
And President T
Said this too will pass
Great things are about to happen
As I am President t
The greatest,
most beloved President
in history
as my friends Putin and Kim
assure me every day
Merry Christmas America
And to the rest of the world
Fuck you, too.
I hate you all.
And to all
A good night
God bless America
Make Russia Great Again
Fake Adds
The world
Is awashed with fake ads
Can’t tell the difference
Anymore
Between the fake ad
And the real ad
Satire is Becoming Harder than Ever
Satire is becoming harder
And harder to pull off
The old adage
You can’t make this up
Becomes the only true thing
Left in a world of fake things
As this mad comedy of a realty show
Called the Presidency of President T
Careens out of control
I was arrested for Publishing Merry Christmas,
America from your favorite President, President T
I am charged with violating the Patriot act,
for giving aid and comfort to the nation’s enemies
for mocking the Presidency
in such a vulgar manner
and for insulting the honor
and dignity of the Presidency.
The President demands
that I be made an example of.
Something had to give.
The political comedians were out of control,
the writers were publishing
all sorts of vile lies.
I am arrested
and brought before the court.
My defense was simple.
Freedom of speech and freedom of press
I denied that I was slandering the President
I pointed out that most of the words I used
Were words that the President himself said
And I read from his speeches
And my lawyers cited supreme court precedents
one after another
And stated that there was no law in the US
banning satirical poetry, comedy or writing.
Now in many other countries
this might be considered offensive
and in some countries a crime.
But up until now the right of Americans
to make fun of their leaders,
yes to mock the rich
and powerful was a cherished
part of American life.
And there was no provision
in federal law
for cancelling a pension
because the President was offended
by a poem
or a piece of writing
written by an American.
in America
I could be denied a security clearance
or a federal job perhaps
but my pension could not be taken away
again under current Federal law.
So if President Trump
wanted to do all of these things
Congress would have to pass a law.
Perhaps the Make America Great Again
Shut the Critics Up law
like the alien and sedition laws
that the Supreme court ruled
were unconstitional?
in 1803
And this poem could not be considered
hate speech as I did not call the President names
or advocate violence against him.
All I did was mock his pretensions
that he was the greatest President
in the history of the world.
And of course the Supreme court
could rule that the first amendment
did not apply
when the President says it does not.
That of course would make them complicit
in ushering in a dictatorship.
For if Americans are forbidden from criticizing,
yes even mocking their leaders
then we have lost
all of our freedoms
Putting me on a no fly list
as a suspected terrorism
was also not permitted
as no where in my poem
did I advocate terrorism.
In my writing I am satirical
and provocative
but it is clear
that I love my country,
just want it to live up to its potential
and in that way America
could become great again.
And I did apologize
to the President
if he was personally offended.
I suggested that he look into his heart
and realize that he is not the greatest President
in the history of the world,
and make amends and ask forgiveness.
But he was the President
and he could do whatever he wanted to do
and I would continue
to exercise my first amendment rights
as long as the first amendment
was still intact.
The judge ruled
against the government
and I am ordered free
but the Judge warned me to be careful.
For now you are free
but in the future who knows?
The judge is pilloried
on right wing media.
My only response was to tweet
President T
I will meet you at your hamburger
joint of choice or a steak house
And buy you dinner
To say that I am sorry.
The President tweet back
Sorry I never eat dinner
With pathetic losers
like yourself
You may have won for now
But watch yourself
We may come after you
And your family
And your friends
And you followers
You have been warned
be very afraid
I tweet back
Thank you President T
You are the best President
In the whole history of the world, Not!
And I publish our tweets
Which infuriates the President
But soon he is dealing with impeachment
And the world soon forgets me
These are my poems about fake food. this is the first part of my “fake food” chapbook which is a sub-set of my “Fake Things” manuscript. I hope to shop both around for publication in the Spring. For both collection I use as a working definition of “fake” anything that is not 100 percent the original deal or state. Thus most of the world we live in is that sense “fake” fake things can be better than the original, or just meet a different need but some are insidious like “fake food”. I have posted some of these earlier, and they can be found on Cosmosfunnel, All poetry, Hello Poetry (where is trending whatever that means) and poetry magnum opus.
of course these opinions are entirely my own and do not reflect the opinions of any my prior employers.
here we go my poems about fake food! comments and feedback welcomed.
Fake Food
in this world of fake things
Nothing is more fake
Than the food we eat
Most of the fake food crap we eat
Is nothing but chemicals
And flavorings
Added to a small amount
Of real food
All packaged and sold
And marketed
Scientifically designed to taste good
So we eat the poisoned food
And get sicker and sicker
While the food industry giants
Make obscene profits
Selling us poison
Comments: almost all processed food sold in the market is fake in the sense that it has chemicals and preservatives added to it along with gluten, corn syrup and who knows what else, not to mention GMO’s. Fresh fruits and vegetables often have wax on it.
it is difficult but not impossible to find real food but the big food companies don’t make a lot of profit so they push all the various processed foods on us and we mostly consume as Frank Zappa once sang,
“eat the garbage that I feed you” from ” I am the Slime” end comment
Fake coffee
I used to be a big coffee drinker
Had to have my four or five cups
Of real fresh brewed coffee
Not for me the weak instant coffee
Of decaf coffee or herbal fake coffee
But over time coffee caught up to me
And now I can not handle the real deal
And I am forced to drink decaf coffee
Which is a kind of fake coffee to me
Or herbal coffee
Which is entirely fake
Designed to taste like the real thing
But without that caffeine kick
That true coffee drinkers crave
Since we are all caffeine addicts at heart
Just need that rush to get going
And keep going
And the fake coffee
Just does not do the trick
And so, I am doomed
To drink decaf coffee
And fake coffee
Missing my real cup of coffee
Until the day I enjoy the last drop
comment:
I do like my coffee so I drink a cup of decaf almost every day and once in a great while real coffee and I will resume drinking herbal coffee but these are fake in the sense that coffee in its original state has caffeine in it. see my other coffee poems on my web page. Several have been published. Particularly snarling cup of coffee.
here in Korea, there seems to be a coffee shop on every corner. Only in the last year has decaf become widely available, before then it was impossible to find anywhere so there is progress for those like me who can’t handle caffeine.
When I go to a vegetarian restaurant
I often encounter fake meat
Often called mock meat
Made out of soybeans, and other things
And I wonder
Why bother with the façade
I mean if you are a vegan
Be a vegan
Don’t eat or make fake meat
You don’t need it
You really don’t like it
And it is somehow
just wrong to me
So please no more fake meat
No more tofu turkey for me
Either give me my meat
Or give me my vegan delight
comment: no offense to my vegan friends, but I just don’t get the concept of fake meat. I have had some great fake meat dishes and enjoyed it but just don’t get the concept. end comments
Fake fish
Everywhere in the world
When you eat fish
In a restaurant
The restaurant owners
Claim it is salmon or tuna
Or other delicious fish
But the sad reality
60 percent of the time
You are eating fake fish
The fish may be fish
Or may not be fish
But if it is indeed fish
It is probably tilapia
Or some other cheap
Bottom feeding scumbag fish
Filled with toxins
And possibly tape worms
And other parasites
And as you eat your delicious fish
You are eating the fake fish
And helping the fish industry
Continue this con game
But there is nothing you can do
Except for catching your own fish
And preparing it yourself
So, when you eat fish
Pretend if you must
That you eating salmon or tuna
While you eat your tilapia
And pay the salmon/tuna premium price
comment: there are so many fake fish products in the market. one study estimated that less than 50 percent of the time the customers are getting what they thought they had ordered, and it is difficult to tell at times whether the fish you eating is the real deal. Here in Korea though you can buy real fish from the fish market and be somewhat assured that you are eating the real deal. End comment
Outlaw Poetry is apparently a thing. I prefer “Neo-Beatnik” but what the hey, we are talking the same thing. Outlaw Poets is a term used in reference to writers of outlaw poetry, a type of marginal poetry with Beat sensibility often categorized as Spoken Word.
Works of several such poets is included in The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry and literary magazine like Zombie Logic Review.
Outlaw poets
“Outlaw poets” is a term of endearment used in reference to poets whose work is featured in the Outlaw Bible. The following (conspiracy) list of traits is characteristic of such poets as the! leader in russian start with the vol1 “demons contempt” of Carlos ac Libera :Out law poetry … does not mean to be disobedient, or an outlaw or criminal in poetic ethics; there is no direct sophism but there is no contradiction either;; Outlaw poetry”, is still taking its first steps as a vanguard of poetry but is a form of subversive expression, ‘which differs from all modes of poetry but is neither playful nor fiction; is a silent expression of crushing the system, the angry cry that is not made in the street, outlaw poetry is wild, natural, appears and has the effect it did not have for an invitation..
anti-authoritarian;
anti-Vietnam war activists known for their anti-war rhymes (many poets write about Vietnam who are by no means outlaw poets).
Elder poets that gained notoriety via unconventional forms
Poets deliberately not included in most academic curriculums[2]
Often inspirational to or inspired by the so-called “Beat” movement in American poetry during the mid-20th century[3]
The following 29 pages are in this category, out of 29 total. This list may not reflect recent changes (learn more).
A
Kathy Acker
B
Richard Brautigan
Charles Bukowski
C
C. A. Conrad
Mitch Corber
D
Diane di Prima
F
Bob Flanagan
Rebecca Fransway
G
Allen Ginsberg
Hedwig Gorski
S.A. Griffin
H
Jack Hirschman
K
Alan Kaufman (writer)
Bob Kaufman
Tuli Kupferberg
L
David Lerner
D. A. Levy
M
Joyelle McSweeney
Jack Micheline
N
Harold Norse
O
The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry
R
Steve Richmond (poet)
S
Sapphire (author)
Herschel Silverman
Patti Smith
T
Charles Taylor Jr.
David Trinidad
W
William Wantling
A. D. Winans
The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry, edited by Alan Kaufman, is an anthology of American underground poets spanning the post-war era to the present day. First published in 1999, the collection features work from several notable poets, including Jack Micheline, Patti Smith, Harold Norse, David Trinidad, Tuli Kupferberg, D.A. Levy, Bob Kaufman, Jim Chandler, Jim Brodey, Daniel Higgs, Jack Kerouac, Bonny Finberg, David Lerner, Richard Brautigan, Allen Ginsberg, Tom Waits, William S. Burroughs, Carlos ac Libera, Ken Kesey, Justin Chin, DianDi Prima, Charles Bukowski, and FrancEyE[1], among others. S.A. Griffin served as a contributing editor.
? S.A. Griffin, Neeli Cherkovski, and Al Martinez (n.d.). “Franceye | Call”. Outlaw Poet. Retrieved November 8, 2017.
? ? Kaufman, Alan (1999). The Outlaw Bible of American Poety. Emeryville: Thunder’s Mouth Press. p. xxv. ISBN 1560252367
Kaufman, Alan (1999). The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry. Emeryville CA: Thunder’s Mouth Press. p. vi-viii. ISBN 1560252367.
I am proud to be associated with such great writers. !
Here then are some of my outlaw poems, published in Outlaw Poetry. Enjoy and please comment on my blog, “hhtps://theworldaccordingtocosmos.com
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In Search of America 1975 – Hitchhiking Tales by Jake Cosmos Aller
Posted on April 26, 2018 by Monsieur K. — 1 Comment ?
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In Search of America 1975 – Hitchhiking Tales
When I was young
And foolish
Broke and stubborn
I hitchhiked across the USA
Started in Salt Lake City
Where my greyhound bus pass
Was stolen
The station manager
Could have helped me
But refused to do so
Threaten to call the cops
When I grabbed my bags
Without the stolen tags
I said
Go ahead
But I am so out of here
Wondered about Salt Lake City
Went to a bar
Found I had to buy my booze
Next door
And they would mix it for me
Had to order food too
After a bloody Mary
And a burger
I walked about town
Saw the Mormon Temple
Finally about 3 pm
It was time to hit the road
Did not look back
Ended up in Cody Wyoming
Got a room shower
Steak beer
Using my rapidly depleted cash
Spent 25 dollars
Money really went far
Back in those days
A band of professional
Communist agitators
Gave me a ride
To Des Moines
Lots of weed booze
And politics later
Got off the road
Slept outside
Next day
A beautiful woman
Drove me to near Chicago
In a red mustang
Might have been
The girl in the song
Took it easy
Digging her vibe
She invited home
But was not sure
If her estranged husband
Would welcome me
So I being foolish
And inexperienced with women
Did not go to her place
And always regretted
That I had lost
My chance that day
Then on to Chicago
Several rides later
Visited friends
Hit the road again
A series of uneventful rides
With truckers
And others
And a week later
I ended in New York City
Slept along the way
In cars
In truck stops
In high way rest stops
Always moving
Always going
None stop talking
And lots of free weed
And beer
And conversation
One more memorable ride
Occurred outside Albany
On my return to Chicago
A middle age creepy looking man
Picked me up
In a brand new Cadillac
He was he said a dynamite deliverer
For the Mafia
Went to various places
To blow up shit
He hated a lot of people
Particularly hippies from California
And Jewish people
Looking at me to confirm
That I was both
I told him that I lived in New York
And had never been to California
And although I might looked Jewish
As I what was called back in the day
A “Jewfro”
I was not Jewish
Many years later I discovered
That I am indeed part Jewish
But then I did not know
And I felt a bit of strategic information
Might keep me alive
Then I realized that he was just jiving with me
And we relaxed
And he pulled out some weed
And beer
And we mellowed out
But I believe that he really was with the mob
Perhaps not a dynamite dealer
A real made Italian made mafia member
By Chicago
I had enough
I called my Dad
Told him what had happened
Wanted a ticket home
And he sent me a ticket
And 500 dollars
And I went home
I told him I would tell him
My tales some day
But never did
I learned so much
About my fellow Americans
And the strange vibe
That was 1975
And now it is too late
But I wanted to finally
Tell the world
Of my hitchhiking tales
In search of America 1975
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Lost and Found
I was lost
And you found me
You walked out of my dreams
And into my life
And that made all the difference
In the world
As you entered my life
I was all alone in this cruel world
And you provided shelter
And comfort
I did not know what I wanted
And you gave me what I wanted
You gave me meaning
You gave me purpose
You gave me love
And understanding
peace and happiness
Joy, laughter and fun
You were endlessly fascinating
Could not keep my eyes off you
You were the most beautiful women
In the world to me
And you still are
So many years later
Like a fine bottle of wine
Gets better with age
And you gave me
Endless nights of wild love making
Which has gotten better
As well
And I fell under
your spell
from the day, I met you
I was lost
And you found me
And if you go first
I will be lost again
Can’t live without you
By my side
Thus, is has always been
Between us
We are so entangled
So interwoven
And that is the
way
It was meant to me
Note: based on a true story which you can read on my blog or in the book, “Dreams and the Unexplainable” published by the Chicken Soup for the Soul publishers in September, 2016.
My Mother’s History
One day many a year ago
My mother spoke to me
About her family’s tangled history
She spoke to me
Of lies, half-truths, and myths
Some of which may have been true
And over the course of the evening
Her history came alive
She was born in hills of North Little Rock
The 10th of 11 children
Of an ancient dying race
The Cherokees who had ran away
The lost tribe of the Cherokees
Homeless since the trail of tears
Refusniks
Refugees who fled in the hills
Rather than join the rest
In the promised land
Of Oklahoma
Her people disappeared
From history’s eyes
They did not exist
I did not exist
My history was over
As was hers
And so, I learned at last
The painful truth
That due to the crimes of politicians
So long ago
My mother’s people
Lost their land, their culture and their hope
And became downtrodden forgotten people
Hillbillies they were called
Living in the hills and mountain dales
Clinging to the dim fading memories
Of their once glorious past
As proud Cherokees
Now no one knew their name
The old ways were forgotten
And the new world never forgave them
And they never forgave the new world
As they lived on
In the margins of society
Forgotten people
And I vowed that if I lived
Their history would not die
As I knew the truth
And I would become a proud
Cherokee
And make my mother proud of me
And my accomplishments
And so, when I am down and out
I recall her stories and her warnings
And realize it is up to me
To live my life
To let the Cherokee in me
Live his life
And in so doing
My mother’s history does not die
It lives on in me
Until the day I die
Long live the Cherokee nation
Long live my mother
Conversation with Teddy Roosevelt
One morning I woke up in the White House
I had been summoned back in time
By a mysterious letter I had received
From my hero, Teddy Roosevelt
The letter
Asked me for my advice
And instructed me to go to the white house with the letter
And so, I went and presented the letter
And went through a back door and found myself
Back in 1904 being presented to the President
We spent the afternoon and evening talking about the future past
And the present in front of us
And we worked out the problems of the world
Then I told him of the future world to come
Of the world wars
Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan
Of presidents to come
And of the great events of the future
And he spoke of his fears
That the future would become a nightmare
Of great powerful corporations
Oppressing the little man
Turning everyone into slaves
To the powers that be
And that he was determined to fight
For the little man
And he hoped that it the end
Freedom would have a chance
To flourish in the world
I left
Not wanting to let him know
That he had failed
That the special interests ruled the world
And that soon the world he knew and love
Would become nothing but the dusty myths of history
And I wondered what had happened
Where we had gone so wrong
And whether we would find our way back
Watching Cats Hunt
Early morning
Watching two white cats
Hunting a white dove
The cats hunt in pairs
Tracking the bird
The bird flies away
Safe for now
And I think about the cats
And the hunt goes on
Such is life
And the fate of cats
And birds
Cats
I often wonder about Cats
What do they think of us
It seems at time
That cats think of humans
As their slaves
We exist to feed them
To comfort them
To save them from their enemies
And to worship them
Yes, cats are an alien species
Totally different from humanity
Detached, and almost evil
If we ever encounter an alien civilization
God help us if it’s a cat based civilization
We would then be engaged
In the epic mother of all wars
As cats and humans would not get along
The cats would think we were their slaves
And we would resent and fear them
And secretly worship their alien ways
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It is a Gun Situation, Mr. President
Mr. President
You are wrong once again
You said that the tragic events in Texas
And Las Vegas were not “gun situations”
But rather were mental health problems
And that in Texas if there had been gun controls
Perhaps fewer people would have died
Mr. President
I know you a smart man
The smartest man in the world
According to you
So please contemplate this fact
According to the latest findings
It is a gun situation
In fact, the reason the U.S.
Has so many gun deaths
Is because we have so many guns
45% of the worlds guns in fact
And 33 percent of the world’s shooters
Are Americans killing other Americans
And most of them
Are White People
killing other white people
Not Islamic terrorists
Most are in fact
Self-proclaimed Christians
So Mr. President
When will you come to your senses
And do what 90 percent of the public wants
Enact nationwide effective gun controls?
And tell the NRA
they can take their blood money elsewhere
When Mr. President
When will you act
When will you take charge
And become a President of the people
Instead of the President of the NRA?
Prayer Works
Dear Speaker Ryan
I want to tell you something
The dead don’t want your prayers
The dead don’t care that you pray for them
They are dead after all
And you and your so-called Christians
Are to blame
You refuse to do anything
Anything at all to stop the carnage
In our streets
The U.S. is flooded with guns
And more are sold every day
Millions of people don’t have health coverage
Millions are barely surviving
And your answer
Our dear great compassionate Speaker
Your answer
Is Prayer works
Government action does not
You act as if the gun violence
Plaguing our country
Was like the weather
Beyond our control
So here’s my prayer for you
And your colleagues
When you die
I pray that God
Will send you
And your friends
Straight to hell
Where Satan and his demons
Will use you for target practice
That’s my prayer to you
And as you know
Prayer works
I don’t Get It
Mr. Speaker
I admit I don’t get it
How does prayer
Stop gun violence?
Prayer did not work in Texas.
26 people were murdered
while praying.
God if he exists
Obviously does not care
About the poor people
Who died in his church
Because a mad man
Got a gun
And no they were not praying
To be delivered from death
No one deserves to die like this
So my prayer to you
Is simply this
Get off your rear end
Rally the country
And do something
About gun violence
That’s a prayer
I hope works
Add House Speaker Paul Ryan to the list of Republicans offering only thoughts and prayers in the wake of Sunday’s mass shooting in a Texas church, because taking meaningful action is always off the table with him and his party.
Speaking with Fox News Channel’s Laura Ingraham last night, Ryan reiterated that the victims and their families need more prayers because “prayer works.”
Prayer doesn’t work.
26 people were murdered while praying. Even Christians ought to admit that prayer doesn’t make a damn bit of difference and their God will do whatever their God wants to do, even if it means letting people die in church because a domestic abuser got his hands on a semi-automatic weapon.
Not that Ryan would ever say that.
Instead, he just blamed the “far secular Left” for not getting it.
Paul Ryan to “Far Secular Left”: After Mass Shootings, “Prayer Works”
NOVEMBER 7, 2017 BY HEMANT MEHTA
253 COMMENTS
Add House Speaker Paul Ryan to the list of Republicans offering only thoughts and prayers in the wake of Sunday’s mass shooting in a Texas church, because taking meaningful action is always off the table with him and his party.
Speaking with Fox News Channel’s Laura Ingraham last night, Ryan reiterated that the victims and their families need more prayers because “prayer works.”
Prayer doesn’t work.
26 people were murdered while praying. Even Christians ought to admit that prayer doesn’t make a damn bit of difference and their God will do whatever their God wants to do, even if it means letting people die in church because a domestic abuser got his hands on a semi-automatic weapon.
Not that Ryan would ever say that.
Instead, he just blamed the “far secular Left” for not getting it.
It’s disappointing. It’s sad, and this is what you’ll get from the far secular Left. People who do not have faith, don’t understand faith, I guess I’d have to say. And it is the right thing to do, is to pray in moments like this, because you know what? Prayer works. And I know you believe that and I believe that. And when you hear the secular left doing this thing, no wonder you’ve got so much polarization and disunity in this country when people think like that.
That’s Republican thinking for you right there: The people who hear the facts, examine the evidence, and demand action are to blame for polarizing the country… while the people in charge, the ones who sit on their asses doing absolutely nothing (at least when they’re not voting to make the problems worse), should get credit for being the vanguards of everything right with America.
The people who don’t have faith understand it perfectly well. That’s why we chucked it a long time ago. We know prayer is the only thing most politicians want to offer in times of distress because meaningful action would alienate their core supporters and donors. Democrats get it. Other countries get it. The only ones who don’t come from the same party that routinely rejects science, facts, and experts.
There are, of course, Christians who believe prayer is meaningless unless it’s followed up with action. We can argue that they’re wasting their time with that first step, but these aren’t the people we’re complaining about.
We’re specifically criticizing those who have the ability to pass gun reform legislation and mental health reforms… but choose to do nothing.
That’s what Paul Ryan has to offer the nation: A giant, steaming bowl of jack shit. And he wants credit for that meal because he says grace before gulping it down.
Dear Governor Abbot
You say that you are a Christian
Yet you have the gall
to say that the proper response
To the evil acts of the deranged gun man
Who shot up a church
Is to work closer with God
And that evil people will find ways
To commit evil acts
And that there is nothing the government
Can do to stop this madness
It is the price of our freedom
Why can’t you wake up
And see that you can lead
The way out of this madness?
Thousands of people die
Each year from guns in this country
Turning everyone into prisoners
Into their own homes
Afraid to walk outside
For fear that a nut job
With a gun
Will blow them away
In Church, at the store
In traffic
And you and your NRA buddies
Think the answer
Is to arm everyone to the teeth
And I wonder how Jesus
Would react to how
You have so misunderstood his message?
You Sir are not a Christian
And you Sir are going to not like
What God has to say to you
On Judgement day
“We have evil that occurs in this world, whether it be a terrorist who uses a truck to mow down bikers in New York City, whether it be a terrorist who uses bombs or knives to stab people, or other terrorist who use vehicles, whether it be in Nice, France, or any other place in the entire world, who mow down people.
And I’m going to use the words of the citizens of Sutherland Springs themselves, and that is, they want to work together for love to overcome evil, and you do that by working with God.”
Texas Governor: Fight Gun Massacres By ‘Working With God’
NOVEMBER 6, 2017 BY MICHAEL STONE
48 COMMENTS
Texas Governor Gregg Abbott claims prayer and “working with God” is the only way to prevent mass shooting events like the recent church massacre in rural Texas.
In a deplorable bit of pandering Abbott said that the proper response to Sunday’s shooting is to confront evil through prayer and forge “a stronger connection to God.”
Governor Abbott said:
We have evil that occurs in this world, whether it be a terrorist who uses a truck to mow down bikers in New York City, whether it be a terrorist who uses bombs or knives to stab people, or other terrorist who use vehicles, whether it be in Nice, France, or any other place in the entire world, who mow down people.
And I’m going to use the words of the citizens of Sutherland Springs themselves, and that is, they want to work together for love to overcome evil, and you do that by working with God.
Most reasonable people reject Abbott’s impotent call to prayer and a “stronger connection to God.” In a statement concerning the recent Texas church massacre, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said that action was rquired:
We have a solemn obligation to the victims of Sutherland Springs, Las Vegas, Orlando, Newtown and the many tragic shootings that occur each day to respond not only with prayer and unwavering love, but with action.
As for Governor Abbott, his position as a dangerous religious extremist is well established.
Last June Abbott signed into law legislation allowing publicly funded agencies to deny non-Christians the ability to adopt a child in need.
In addition, in a move meant to shame women who have abortions, the Republican governor of Texas ordered state health officials to add new abortion regulations that would require the burial or cremation of post abortion fetal tissue.
Bottom line: Texas Governor Gregg Abbott is a dangerous religious extremist who believes the proper response to Sunday’s church massacre is prayer and other efforts to forge “a stronger connection to God.”
Outlaw_Poetry_html_5aebfd37.pngTexas Governor Gregg Abbott (Image via Wikimedia)
When will this Madness end – short version
Yet again we turn on the TV
And witness horrible scenes
Of unparalleled violence, hatred and despair
An old man consumed by his own demons
Opens fire from a hotel room
Killing 60 people injuring hundreds
In Las Vegas, Sin City
And the cry goes out throughout the land
Why yet again this tragedy
The usual suspects are rounded up
It’s the culture, stupid cry the conservative voices
And there is nothing we can do
It is like the weather
Bad shit happens
Guns are the price of our freedom
Guns Don’t Kill People
The only solution is more guns for everyone
The only solution for a bad guy with a gun
Is a gun guy with a gun
An armed society is a polite society
No, it’s the guns, cry the liberal pundits
We must confiscate the guns
Ban Assault weapons
And join the rest of the world
Where such carnage does not occur
And we sit around and argue
Knowing that there will be a next time
And another time and time and time again
Until the end of time
What is the sickness in our souls
That allows for this hatred to fester so
Deep within the minds of our killers
We are all responsible here
The negligent parents
The overworked schools
The soulless corporate world
That treats everyone like disposable commodities
The lack of human connection
The TV and movie purveyors
Of pornographic violence
Nothing will change
Until we conflict the evil
That lurks deep within each of us
There will be another Las Vegas
Soon enough
Two weeks later the greatest mass shooting in a Church occurred in Texas
Sadly nothing has changed
Published also in Poetry24
For additional poems from the cosmos check out my blog
Poet Trapped Inside the Beast
I have the heart of a poet
Trapped deep within
The soul of the beast
Everyday I get up
And put on my dark
Bureaucratically correct uniform
I turn off my soul
Put on my phony smile
And my plastic ideas
And go forth
To do battle
With all the other soulless automats
The nameless govbots
The evil faceless bureaucrats
That infests this swamp by the river
The body snatchers came a long time ago
They won
We are all slaves to the system
The system is not evil
It is beyond such concerns
No the system’s goal
Is complete surrender
Of our creativity
The poet trapped within
Screams
I want out
The bureaucrat
Bends over and says
Twelve years until retirement
Then I’ll let you out for a spin
Before locking you up for another century
The bosses don’t care
They merely exist to do the bidding
Of the masters of the Universe
The evil creatures who bought our souls
Years ago
And control our every thought
With TV and media and constant monitoring
Independent thought is illegal
Don’t you know that by now
And so the poet remains trapped
Lonely, all alone
Surrounded by the body snatched victims
Of the evil system
We call the Government
Escape while you can
Get off the net
Get off the computer
Run away far far away
But remember there is no escape
They are everywhere
The brain dead soulless automats
The govbots
The evil faceless bureaucrats
We call government workers
They are everywhere
Watching out for independence and free thought
They are coming after me
The poet screams
And is neutralized and destroyed
And I am now a happy corporate slave
Working for the government
With my soul lobotomized for the greater good
At the end of the millennium
We find the truth
There is no god to save us
From what we have become
Smash the system
Escape while you can
For they will find you
And put you
Back into the suit of conformity
God is not dead
He has also been coopted
Given money, and followers
The Christian Coalition Controls God
But one day
God will escape his prison
And free us all
From the tyranny of the corporate monsters
Who control our fate
And then only then
Will we be free
Until that day
The poet deep inside
Prays, works and undermines
The Government-Corporate master plan
The end of the world is upon us
God is coming back
Or perhaps it is the devil that is coming
Or Maybe the Lord Buddha or the Prophet Mohammed
But one day
Mankind will be free
And the Poets and musicians and creative types
Of all description
Will throw off the yoke of the body snatchers
And bring on a thousand years
Of peace, love and creativity
But Satan (God’s Evil Twin)
Can’t be defeated forever
He will lurk out there
Until the time is ripe
And mankind again falls under
The spell of the body snatcher
Bureaucrats and corporate clones
Govbots and faceless bureaucrats
And poetry and creativity
Again is banished to the dark corners of our souls
The poet within me
Smiles
Knowing that some day
He will defeat the bureaucrats
That so oppresses the world
Someday
They will be the ones
Hiding in the shadows
And the poet will have his revenge
Until that day
He bids his time
Occasionally coming out
Taking over my soul
And writing these stories
Before returning to his hiding space
Deep within my soul
Tomorrow I put on my suit
And return to battle
With all of the other clones
Automats govbots
And faceless bureaucrats
And my poet
Smiles
Laughing while my soul
Slowly twists
Dying in the wind
And I begin another day
In the city of Washington
The center of the beast
Hell Central
The center of the cosmic conspiracy
That has lasted centuries
Man has lost
We are all slaves
To the machines
The poet screams
But is not heard
The machine can’t be bothered
The system does not compute
The anguish of crushed humanity
The system demands
More and more
Until the life within is crushed
And we embrace our enemies
The TV said the bombs were falling
All over Belgrade/Baghdad, Libya, Syria
And a thousand other lands
All over the world
The bombs were falling down
All over the place
Yes, the bombs were falling
And I thought
While walking down the street
Why? Why yet again
Do we think we can bomb our way
Into peace and prosperity
Why, Oh God, do we need to bomb yet again
A country far away
For a purpose that is not our own
Oh, the President and the Secretary of State
They have their reasons
The Senators and Congressmen too
The soldiers, sailors and marines
All have their reason
To unleash the power and passion and danger
Of the horrible evil weight of the bombs
And the military industrial state
The deep state make a fortune
Selling the bombs to the government
Every bomb is a money maker
A million bucks per bomb
And they need millions of bombs
Bombs away
But the bombs don’t know
They don’t care who you are
All they do is fall and blow things up
And kill everything in their wake
That’s what bombs do
That’s the thing that bombs do
We don’t understand
It’s a bomb sort of thing
The bombs keep falling
The TV screen shows lights and show
And the bombs keep falling
The TV does not show
The innocent children
Who die tonight
Because the bombs fell
Were the children asked?
Were the mothers consulted
Were the sons and daughters thought about?
No
The bombs don’t consult
They merely fall and kill and maim
And blow everything up in their sight
The bombs keep falling
And a million souls die and go to hell
Satan in his lair
Is happy
He says to himself
The bombs keep falling
More and more people are drawn To the dark side
The hatred and fear and violence
Keep it up
The bombs keep falling
And falling
And we walk around in our streets
Far away from where the deaths occur
The dead don’t scream out to us
We don’t care
The bombs don’t care
They keep falling
Doing their bomb thing
And I wonder, yes, I wonder
What price do we pay
As a human race
For the death, the destruction of the bombs
In this day and age
Many doubt that God exist
And most of us don’t believe in Satan either
But the bombs
They know
Satan has won
We are all living in Hell
And soon Satan will arise
And rule us forever
For we have given into our hatred and evil side
God is watching us and says to himself
They have chosen the bombs
Let them have them
Bombs away forever
And the bombs don’t stop to think
They don’t laugh
They merely fall and kill and destroy
The bombs keep falling
And tomorrow and the next day
The generals will talk
The talk
And walk the walk
And proclaim the great victory
And the dead with have no voice
The dead children’s screams of terror
Will not be heard in the courts of power
The bombs will have won
And we will all of us pay a price
For all of us are the bombers
And none of us are innocent
We are all guilty of war crimes
We should all be condemned to Hell
But I forget sometimes
We are in hell
And God is far away
Running away in shame
From what he had created
Satan is happy
The bomb makers are ecstatic
Another million dollars gone
And another million dollar sale
Yet again we turn on the TV
And witness horrible scenes
Of unparalleled violence, hatred and despair
Two teenage boys
Decide to kill all of their classmates
Hold their school up
Bombs waiting to destroy
And the cry goes out throughout the land
Why yet again this tragedy
Why did such nice boys
In a nice safe suburb
Turn out to be some horrible evil creatures?
The usual suspects are rounded up
It’s the culture, stupid cry the conservative voices
No, it’s the guns, cry the liberal pundits
And we sit around and argue
Knowing that there will be a next time
And another time and time and time again
What is the sickness in our souls
That allows for this hatred to fester so
Deep within the minds of our teenage killers
Why do they act the way they do
Is it just the mindless violence?
That surrounds us all
The pornographic display of violence
That washes across us every day
The 8, 000 murders we have seen
By the time we are 18?
Or is it simply
That killers can easily
Get the latest bang for their buck?
We are all responsible here
The negligent parents
The overworked schools
The TV and movie purveyors
Of pornographic violence
The gun dealers
The gun makers
The craven politicians
Who think it is everyone’s god given right
As a damn American
To buy as much weaponry as possible
To buy machine guns
To protect themselves from other gun men
Nothing will change
Until we conflict the evil
That lurks deep within each of us
There will be another Columbine High School, another Sandy Hook
Another Texas massacre, another Virginia Tech,
another this and another that
Soon enough
Despite all of our efforts
Despite any new laws
There will be evil men
Who want to shoot and kill
Who have somehow lost
Their essential humanity
Lao Tze said
The more laws there are
The more criminals there will be
More laws are not the answer
For a law cannot make a sick soul whole
We are all guilty here
The TV and movie
Pornographers of violence
The parents and schools
And most important our society itself
For allowing our young to become
Such evil creatures
If Satan lives on
He is laughing
All the way to the proverbial bank
If God lives on
He is ruing the day
He created Mankind
And the carnage will go on and on and on
Until the day emerges
When we all proclaim
Enough, no more
The killing, hatred and violence
Will stop
No More will our youngsters
Grow up to be such monsters
That day will come soon enough
Until then we will all suffer
The wrath of the killer children
In our midst.
Index
It Can’t Happen Here
Masters of the Universe
Fires Burning Bright
Hurricanes from Hell
Idiots in High Places
God Does Not Talk to Idiots
It Can’t Happen Here
The pundits and talking heads
The chaterati classes
All assure us
That it can’t happen here
Fascism will never happen here
Our democratic system
Superior to all others
Check and balances
Power of the media
Will prevent fascism
From taking root
In the American soil
They laugh
And talk amongst themselves
And laugh some more
Convincing themselves
Meantime the darkness
Continues to descend
As our President becomes more erratic
And frankly shows signs of insanity
The fascists supporting him
Gather strength
And one day
They strike back
With furry
When the powers that be
Try to remove the President
He mobilizes his army
His army of deplorables
And they mobilize
And his fascist supporters
In the government
Demand law and order
And restoration of the Leader of the people
As they have started calling the President
He comes back into power
And demands
Unspecified emergency powers
And so, the cycle ends
And fascism wrapped inside a Christian flag
Comes to America
Full vengeance
As they take charge
And the chaterati classes
Are all arrested
The first to be rounded up
America has fallen
The media stars
All comply
The leader is great
America is great
And all who oppose him
Must be terror sympathizers
Or Tersymps for short
And deserve to be rounded up
Public protests are forbidden
Muslims must register
Atheists must be fired
Alt media is shut down
The internet is censored
And I weep
As I see the once great American nation
Descend into a fascist nightmare
And I wait for the midnight knock on the door
Knowing that I am on the list.
Knock Knock knock
Open it is homeland security……
Masters of the Universe
The earth has been invaded
By hideous blood sucking vampires
Disgusting vile alien creatures
Devoid of all compassion
Lacking any human empathy
These so-called Masters of the universe
These psychopathic monsters
Are everywhere
They even took over the White house
And to these vile creatures
Everyone is nothing but a commodity
These alien monsters
Worship the god of the market
While proclaiming that they serve Jesus
Jesus would turn over in his grave
To see these people in action
The airlines in Florida
Facing the worst hurricane in world history
Decided that the expeditated thing to do
The MBA approved thing to do
The profit maximizing, screw the public thing to do
Was to raise prices 600 percent
Without prior notice charging 3,000 dollars
Instead of doing the right thing
The compassion thing
The human thing of offering free flights to all
These executives, these so-called Masters of the Universe
thus, demonstrated that they are no longer human
But greed driven monsters
As are all the other soulless automatons
Who have taken over the world
Perhaps some day
Jesus will come back
And smite these motherfuckers
Send them to the hell they so richly deserve
We can only pray
For our deliverance from such evil
From the soulless evil masters of the universe
Who have taken over the planet
Fires Burning Bright
I look out my window in Medford Oregon
at the unnaturally dark smoke-filled skies
Seems almost like the end of the world
Out here in the smoke-filled skies
Of the west
And realize that that the entire west coast
Is burning up
Quote the Donald,. “Give me clean, beautiful and healthy air – not the same old climate change (global warming) bullshit! I am tired of hearing this nonsense.”
I consult the Donald for further wisdom and advice
and find that this is what he had to say
. “Well, I think the climate change is just a very, very expensive form of tax. A lot of people are making a lot of money. I know much about climate change. I’d be–received environmental awards. And I often joke that this is done for the benefit of China. Obviously, I joke. But this is done for the benefit of China, because China does not do anything to help climate change. They burn everything you could burn; they couldn’t care less. They have very–you know, their standards are nothing. But they–in the meantime, they can undercut us on price. So, it’s very hard on our business.”
Ah it all makes sense
Climate change is a Chinese hoax
So, they can destroy the US economy
Thanks to our dear great leader’s wisdom
I am relieved
And realize that it will all be alright
If I just follow the wisdom
Of our dear leader
Hurricanes from Hell
As I watch the endless coverage of the storms from hell
Harvey, Irma, Jose and so many others
It seems almost end of the world like
As I sit on the smoky west coast
With fires burning everywhere
Thinking of the massive storms from hell
Bearing down on the East Coast
And the burning of the West Coast
As the storms head to Margo Largo
Winter home of our dear leader
Threatening destruction
The thought comes to mind
Perhaps there really is a God
And he is angry at us
For destroying his world
And I realize that God
Has been sending us a message
The end of the world is coming
And I despair
Thinking that we have an idiot in charge
Of the United States Government
As we face the storms of the century
And the ever-growing threats of global terrorism
Nuclear armed North Korea
And global chaos
What does our dear leader say to comfort us
In our hour of need
Nothing but political nonsense
How great he is doing
And how on top of things he is
As the storms batter the country
And the fires consume the west
I realize that the earth
Does not give a whit
About what I think
The world spins and spins around the sun
The climate continues to deteriorate
And mankind might be facing its darkest hours
But we have the Donald
And he will lead us through
To the other side
And so, I pray to the Donald
For deliverance from the storms
the fires burning everywhere
the threat of nuclear war
the end of the world
Idiots in High Places
Many years ago
I was amazed to find
So many idiots in high places
All over the world
Driving to the end of the world
The end times approach
Driving through the smoke-filled air
North of Mt Shasta
Heart of Bigfoot country
End of the world images
Fill my head with dismal
end of the world visions
the apocalypse is upon us
The wicked evil as hell
blood red sun
Leers at me with an evil grin
Screaming at me
What fools these mortals be
Global climate change
Is as real as the smoky fires
That Burn and burn and burn
As our leaders turn turn turn away
They Can’t handle the truth
They will sacrifice all life on earth
So the oil and coal barons
The so-called masters of the universe
Can make their obscene profits
Sending the rest of us to hell
Tuesday, 2 January 2018
Merry Christmas from your friends at AT&T
Sometimes I wonder
About the morality of the corporate giants
That rule our world
On the day before Christmas
AT and T received a huge Christmas gift
From the President of the United States
The biggest tax cut in U.S. History
And the President proclaimed
That it would unleash jobs jobs jobs
Apparently, ATT never got the memo
And they announced thousands of layoffs
The day before Christmas
A true PR nightmare
That could have been avoided
They could have waited two weeks
And announced their restructuring plan
After the New Years
But no they decided to show the world
Their true colors
Heartless soulless monsters
Who don’t give a damn
About their workers, their customers
Or their employees
And certainly are not Christians
Though I am sure that they think
They are doing what Jesus would
All they care about
Is feathering their own pockets
Is it any wonder
That Americans hate the big corporations
That rule us like ancient emperors?
And will they fade away
Into the dustbin of history
One can only pray
For such a Christmas miracle
It’s a Gun Situation, Mr President
Mr. President
You are wrong once again.
You said that the tragic events in Texas
And Las Vegas were not “gun situations”
But rather, were mental health problems
And that in Texas if there had been gun controls
Perhaps fewer people would have died
Mr. President
I know you a smart man,
The smartest man in the world
According to you
So please contemplate this fact:
According to the latest findings,
It is a gun situation
In fact, the reason the U.S.
Has so many gun deaths
Is because we have so many guns,
45% of the world’s guns in fact
And 33 percent of the world’s shooters
Are Americans killing other Americans
And most of them, the majority of them,
Are White People killing other people
Not murdering terrorists.
Most are in fact,
Out-of-control citizens.
So Mr. President
When will you come to your senses
And do what 90 percent of the public wants,
Enact nationwide effective gun controls?
And tell the NRA
they can take their blood money elsewhere
When Mr. President
When will you act
When will you take charge
And become a President of the people
Instead of the President of the NRA?
When will this Madness end?
Yet again we turn on the TV
And witness horrible scenes
Of unparalleled violence, hatred, and despair
An old man consumed by his own demons
Opens fire from a hotel room
Killing 58 people injuring hundreds
In Las Vegas, Sin City
And the cry goes out throughout the land
Why yet again this tragedy?
The usual suspects are rounded up
It’s the culture, stupid, cry the conservative voices
Guns are the price of our freedom
Guns Don’t Kill People
The only solution is more guns for everyone
The only solution for a bad guy with a gun
Is a good guy with a gun
An armed society is a polite society
No, it’s the guns, cry the liberal pundits
We must confiscate the guns
Ban Assault weapons
And join the rest of the world
Where such carnage does not occur
And we sit around and argue
Knowing that there will be a next time
And another time and time and time again
Until the end of time
What is the sickness in our souls
That allows for this hatred to fester so
Deep within the minds of our killers
Nothing will change
Until we confront the evil
That lurks deep within each of us
There will be another Las Vegas
Soon enough
Donald Trump, Our Great Compassionate Dear Leader
As an elderly man falls
In front of him
During a charity dinner event
Hitting his head bleeding out
Quote the MAGA Donald Trump our future dear leader
“It is disgusting. I mean the guy was bleeding
all over the nice marble floor”
Donald Trump the self-proclaimed
saviour of the nation
Could not be bothered to lift a finger
“Thank God for the marines who took out the garbage
But they left a mess on the nice marble floor
And ruined their nice uniforms”
and disrupted a fine dinner
Did he call the grieving family the next day
Of course not
Quote the Great Leader, the Donald
“I forgot to call.” That is not his thing at all
And still, I wonder
How such a disgusting excuse
For a human being became
The leader of the greatest nation
On earth
And what it means for the future
Is it proof that we are doomed
That America is in the final stage
Of terminal decline?
Or will Americans take
out the garbage
From the white house?
Fake Calls by John (“Jake”) Cosmos Aller
Every day I get woken up
As the sun comes up
By my phone ringing
With a fake call
It seems that the only people
Whoever bother to call me
Are the fake call people
Who all call me
With fake sincerity
Offering me a great deal
On this and that scam
I curse at them
Yell at them
Mutter obscenities in foreign tongues
And block their calls
Yet it does not seem to matter
The next call will be
Yet another fake call
Am I doomed to receive
Fake calls until I day I die
I turn on my computer
And read my fake news accounts
And watch TV for the latest fake news
And the politicians lying
And the criminals scheming
To take my money
The Zappa song comes to mind
You will obey me while I lead you
And eat the garbage that I feed you
Until the day that we don’t need you
Don’t go for help . . . no one will heed you
Your mind is totally controlled
It has been stuffed into my mold
And you will do as you are told
Until the rights to you are sold
The Poetry Super Highway has published their 20th Annual Yom Hashoah Issue featuring 58 poets. This week, 71 poets from all over the world remember the Holocaust in our 20th annual Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) issue. Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) was this past Thursday, April 12th.
I am one of the 77 poets chosen. I was inspired to write by the DNA confirmation that i am indeed part Jewish.
