Elvis and Dr. King

Earth Day in America. I recently saw a winger post that complained that we celebrate Earth Day now, and not Easter. I don't know who's house that guy was at, but we have Easter at our house. It just doesn't have anything to do with the old testament. We like the bunnies and eggs business, the coming of Spring Easter, named for the Great Goddess in Her guise as Oestrus.

Xtians complain about their holidays all the time, but they were our holidays first on average and xtians are merely usurpers who have a desperate need to shore up a belief system that is none too based on fact.

Meanwhile it is Wednesday, Odin's Day, in another week in April. The blogger world this week has been full of the torture memos. To my mind there is nothing there that is at all surprising. What is dark and weird is the inability of those on the right to say that these things are immoral. It has come to seem to me that rightwing republicans are just not interested in the Constitution, the Bill of Rights (excepting the 2nd Amendment), or even, really the Declaration of Independence. They would sacrifice any of these things to further the cause of their security, as they see it.

Actually, I think this has been true for a long time. What Archie Bunker in the 70s saw as the real america was the america he had grown up in. You see this in Pat Buchanan's unhappiness that much of the US is now Chicano background humans. As if the only cultural strain that can create real "americans" is the northern european/english-irish strain. The racism that is implicit in this is the swan song of the Republican party. It was bound to happen; when you base your party's appeal on racism there was bound to come a time when people of other races voted in numbers sufficient to overwhelm your group. White folks are headed for minority status. Of course, as the top 5% of wage earners show us, that doesn't mean powerlessness. Power can definitely be bought.

Nobody reads this, really. So I can say all sorts of over-stated ludicrous things, for the emotional effect they give me. Of course that bothers the staunch rationalists who take everything I say at face value. Dan Keding no longer reads this blog. It irritates him for me to say things like I think Texas should secede from the union. I would think they would have to give up all the social security holdings of their citizens, though, and there might be some backlash on the governor about that. all those southern states get more back than they shovel into the federal government. They were never all that successful, except for that period of time when they had a free labor force. And there is some sort of historical memory of that at work in the white folks in the south. They had it good and Lincoln took that away from them. Only ten percent of the white electorate in the american south voted for Barack Obama. Ten percent.

I have a lot of very complex feelings about the south. For one thing my family, the Osburns, lived primarily in the hill country from Virginia through West Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Arkansas and into Oklahoma. There were plenty of hill people along the way. And they were, I would wager, fairly racist. Though the Osburns in Oklahoma that I grew up with were pretty careful about race. Of course, there weren't any black folk around. They were careful about native americans too. I point out that most of the family were republicans, though I think my father primarily voted democratic. And his brother, too, I'm sure. Still, they weren't doctrinaire about this stuff. I remember my Aunt Betty telling me "You kids were right about Nixon." But Betty is a reality-based Republican and christian. So you don't get the same kind of twisted rationalisations from her that you get from the wingers.

We've been to Mississippi at least twice a year for the last three years now. I think it is beautiful there, but the racial divide is absolutely clear. I don't know if it can ever be changed. It is really a different place for me. I've lived in Illinois and New Hampshire and there just isn't the broad based separation you see in the south. Maybe I am being too harsh. Probably I am. Much of what makes this a great culture came from the south. Elvis was born in Tupelo and lived in Memphis and Elvis was not a racist (though he was a dumb cracker in a lot of ways). New Orleans really is the basis for most great american music and cooking. And the effect of the civil rights movement and Dr. King was probably the most important part of my passage into adulthood in the early 1960s.

Well this little journey doesn't seem to have a destination. I grind my wheels together in search of something profound, or even something meaningful. The day continues apace.

For me a day for the Earth is clearly a day for the Lady. All of this, everything that is, has some element of Great Arianrhod to it. She is the song we hear in our subconscious, the beating of the heart. I am grateful for Her mercy.

In the Land of Weird Phenomena

Simply a note in this strange time. I see the main stream media doing its best to create a civil war meme in the body politic. The republicans have no clear solutions to the economic problems we have created and found ourselves in. The question for them, and for the MSM, seems to be whether the social/cultural issues can be used to create/recreate a power base in this time. I don't know. I do know there are many more racists in america than is commonly believed and that racism is itself a mental illness. Most of what is happening on the right side of the political spectrum has come from people convincing themselves that reality is what they wish it to be. Not what it is. This is, of course, the first and greatest of all sins: the sin of lying to one's self. I struggle with this sin every day.

Yes, I'm not much, really, on the concept of sin as an act against the godhead. But I am fully aware that lying to yourself for reasons of ego, need, desire, any reason really, is the first and most destructive act you can damage your soul with. Hunky sentence.

In the land of weird phenomena, I note that someone from Nevada has checked out the poetry site (Homage & Apology). Extensively. I assume it is an old romantic interest of mine. Being me, I naturally wrote a short poem commenting on her presence. I will note here that because this person is a lawyer there is always some chance that changes will be required of the various narratives on the site. Or the site itself could just come down. I have all the poems in manuscript now, along with the commentaries. And I am sort of hoping to publish a collected at some point. Given my history that is something that may or may not ever happen. Getting mighty close to the finish line boys and girls.

But so few people actually visit either of these sites that it is hard to imagine anyone giving much of a damn about them.

I wish spring would show up. I wish my cold would go away. I wish there was some visual clarity on this Monday in April. Thanks to the Lady for Her mercy.

Susan: the dream I dreamed.

If you haven't heard of Susan Boyle it's probably because you don't spend part of your day trolling the internet. There was also, a brief feature on the Today Show this a.m. If you haven't caught the YouTube video of her performance on Britain's Most Talented, you should. For a variety of reasons.

I was shuffled to this vid by Andrew Sullivan, who rarely guides you wrong. There wasn't much verbiage, so I didn't really know what it was. So I watched this frumpy, portly, middle-aged housewife type straight from Monty Python's Flying Circus go out on stage in England, to face Simon Cowell and two other judges. She was a cheeky thing, giving back some of the approbrium thrust her way by the crowd and the judges. They all had that dismissive, superior thing working. And who can blame them? These shows often showcase poor sad people who really think they are great, but simply can't hear themselves. And they give the rest of us a chance to laugh at them and feel sorry.

Susan told the judges and the crowd that she was 47, unemployed, and hoped to have a singing career. Simon asked who's career she fancied and she said "Elaine Page." Well, the audience giggled at that. After all, Elaine Page, doesn't she do "Memory" from Cats? Wasn't she the original Evita? Then the music starts.

It was simply a triumphant moment. I raised my hands as soon as she uttered her first notes. It was remarkable. She sang that song from Les Miserable,The Dream I Dreamed, and it was the exact thing to say here. This woman, this absolutely normal sweet soul who spent her life taking care of her mother as she edged toward the final curtain, she has her dreams too. And they were never likely to happen. She's stout and average, and looks like Monty Python, but what came from her on that night was the true longing of the soul turned to high art. Her song was magnificent, beautiful, amazing. You really have to see it to understand.

And was it satisfying to see the judges' jaws drop, and the crowd turn from a nasty bunch of cynical modern citizens into a cheering, waving, excited group of human beings, so moved and gladdened by one of their own they could suddenly recognize. I timed it and it's about twenty seconds after she started singing that the crowd is jumping to its feet. And the raucousnessa after that point is wonderful. It is a bunch of people allowed their own fucking hopes. It is a recognition that great art comes from all of us. I don't mean to say this woman isn't extraordinary: she totally is, but she points out that the way we do things, the way we create artists doesn't necessarily mean that there aren't great artists among the rest of us. This is the sort of moment you hope to see on American Idol, but you really don't. And are there many Susan Boyles out there? I don't know. But I do know there are many great writers and artists that will never get the distribution that a lot of the poseurs will get. Too bad, but you know, art isn't about being famous. It's about being honest.

Here's the link. Watch it. Susan Boyle.

My gratitude to the Woman who is Our Life in this existence, the Lady Arianrhod. I too have dreamed the dream. All who are human dream this dream. Thanks to the Lady for this moment in my life.

Twice a 404

Yes, this is my 808th post to this blog. I am a windy windbag. But I'm not guilty about it because nobody reads this anyway. In the past week there have been only two people stop by who weren't me. And neither of them stayed long.

What is on the mind today is Vermont. Vermont just over-rode their Gov's veto and made gay marriage legal there. After the Iowa court decision I think the momentum is really moving things in that direction. Yet, I also understand that this will make the crazies much much crazier. I wouldn't be surprised to see many more examples like the guy in Pennsylvania who killed the cops because Rusty Limbo told him Obama was going to take his guns away.

Well, there is plenty of blame on the right side of the ledger for these acts of violence. But let's face it, that is really what those people want. They want to kill off the rest of us so they can just be right and not have to deal with that sinking feeling in the pit of their stomach that they might be wrong, or gay, or not really up to the job.

And isn't that ultimately what the right is all about? They are frenzied insecure losers, needing their penis-extenders (guns) to prove they really are "men" like their great-grandfathers who killed off all the indians. I have always felt that racism came directly from white boys' fear of black men's penis size. That is still true today. Just like it was two hundred years ago in the American South.

Well, it's a good day for America. We keep on showing that most of us really do understand the language of the constitution. Now if we can just keep those who don't out of the White House we won't be turned into another soviet union, run by an oligarchy of the powerful.

Thanks to the Lady for this day and for every day.