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#WeekendCoffeeShare Ignorance Crisis
May 14, 2017
— 3 Comments
the web woven
sticky business
If we were having coffee this weekend I would serve you a long tall glass of iced tea. I am enjoying dewy cherry, a strong fruit flavored herbal tea with long lasting flavor. It is refreshing and beats the hell out of artificial cherry anything. I switch the flavor of tea daily so we never get tired of any one of them. It is also the time of year when we start of consume a lot of fresh juice. I can offer you watermelon, cucumber, tomato, or a combo of any of these juices. I went to the produce site yesterday where I pick up 60 pounds of produce for $10, and decided to score to boxes for $20. We are once again loaded with honeydew, watermelon, tomatoes, and bell peppers. I am cooking up a storm, and drying tomatoes for the future. This non-profit does not operate in the summer, since most of the Mexican produce they bring is not crossing the border in the heat. It makes a big difference to our budget when we have to go back to paying up at the grocery store for our fresh fruits and vegetables.
If we were visiting today I would tell you about the latest installment of the attempt to complete my non-fiction book. I have written this book over the course of many years and published it here on this blog in real-time, as the story developed. It could have been a short story about justice triumph and community policing. Sadly it is a true story about how the local police department accidentally used their “neighborhood watch” program to promote felony crime (charity scamming by the HOA board using our corporate property, our corporate treasury and our corporate lawyer) in the hood. It does sound like an incredible tale, and I wish it were not true. I have published each part of the book and sent the evidence to the city of Tucson since 2013, but the criminal activity has gone on much longer than that. Each time I reported the crimes I thought it would be the last time I would need to do it because I thought the city would want to stop supporting and promoting the most obvious crime in our neighborhood. Alas, the police do not understand that HOA fraud and charity scamming are against the law. They encouraged the scam, and even promoting cramming the fire lane full of cars in order to run the 24 hour donation drop off for the scam. They thought this was a community service. They thought they were serving us by protecting and promoting felony crime (including postal fraud) in front of everyone here for almost a decade. They thought that by setting up an illegal knock-off of the food bank in the fire lane of a residential condo village they would serve our community. They never understood that their actions were very detrimental to safety, property value, quality of life, and certainly did a lot of damage to respect for law enforcement officials. They flaunted obvious obstruction of justice for years and told us it was community service. They might be that ignorant, but the people in this ‘hood are not.
The national political scene is all a-twitter about a constitutional crisis caused by all the latest developments. There is nothing new happening. With all due respect to anyone who thinks they can fix national politics, I believe the crisis is one of extreme national ignorance. The governed have no idea how government is supposed to work, and neither do the folks who work for the government. If anyone knew how the justice system was intended to operate, it would be something other than a for profit prison system that fails enrich or protect the community. If people knew what the presidency was supposed to do, they would shape that mandate in the voter’s booth. I think our position in the world today is a result of a long era of willful blindness and withdrawal of education to the masses. If they can’t read, write, spell , or do math, they will probably not challenge the powers that be because they don’t even know what and where they might be. Ignorance and willful blindness are the enemies, gentle reader.
And thus I will conclude my political rant against ignorance in the United States. I have advised the city of Tucson that there are laws against charity scamming and HOA fraud, as well as blocking the fire lane with traffic for a decade in front of my house. They have yet to respond, so I can’t have a happy ending to this book. It is about the truth, and the truth is that they still think they have the right to come out here and mislead people in order to promote crime. I will end the book and let you know when they finally respond. They do not have the right to remain silent, but the continue to do so. I rarely go on political rants, in fact I consider this to be an education rant.
Thanks for joining me today while I let off steam. Please read, write or comment on the state of your personal affairs at the weekly party hosted by Nerd in the Brain. Enjoy sipping digital beverages with bloggers from all over the world each weekend. Please pipe up with your own stories.
#WeekendCoffeeShare
Party Time Moon
May 12, 2017
— 3 Comments
Sagittarius truth day and MARS in GEMINI trines JUPITER in LIBRA a very optimistic socializing airy energy. One of the best days to meet new people and socialize like mad.
#NaPoWriMo The Most Famous Ignoramus
April 21, 2017
When history is reviewed in full and we need to name us
The most outrageous public acts throughout the ages
Time will tell who will become the most famous ignoramus
Each era sees the living proof politics are a scary spoof
Only in retrospect will we be able to judge all presidents
Warriors, princes, rebels and kings against all other things
thorny issue
thorny issue
My poem today is inspired by a letter written by Jean-Paul Sartre that contains wisdom I appreciate written in a way I adore:
My dear,
There may be more beautiful times, but this one is ours.
Look back, look forth, look close, there may be more prosperous times, more intelligent times, more spiritual times, more magical times, and more happy times, but this one, this small moment in the history of the universe, this is ours.
And let’s do everything with it. Everything.
Falsely yours,
Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre
Read other poetry at the #NaPoWriMo site and on social media by using these hashtags: Enjoy this month long celebration by finding new poets.
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- #GloPoWriMo
The Sad Story of Felix Powell
April 10, 2017
— 1 Comment
I have a special treat for my gentle readers today. My good digital friend Marjorie Clayman is my guest today. We probably met on twitter, being a little silly, but over the years I have come to really appreciate Margie’s attitude. She spends a great deal of her time crafting hand made items of the useable sort, which she donates to those who need it the most at the time. She is not only a powerhouse of crafty artful blankets and hats, but also is pretty crafty as a wordsmith. She works in public relations, so words are her stock in trade. Margie adds her own personal commitment to a better world to all her communications. She brings us a story about war and the way it leaves lasting impressions. Without further ado, I bring you Ms Clayman:
Marjorie Clayman, guest author
The other day, in honor of the 100th anniversary of the US entering World War I, I attended a commemorative event filled with speakers and musicians. One of the singers sang a song called “Pack Up Your Troubles in Your Old Kit Bag and Smile, Smile, Smile.” The singer, in a laid back tone of voice common to folk singers, talked about how the song had been written by two brothers. One of the brothers, Felix Powell, performed the song for soldiers all along the WWI front. The song became popular again during the Second World War and resurfaced once more during the Vietnam War.
You are thinking that this is a feel-good story at this point. You might think that even more so when you learn, as I did via this article (http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/chapter-and-verse-the-surprising-story-of-the-song-pack-up-your-troubles-in-your-old-kit-bag-2124620.html) that the brothers submitted the song to a contest as a joke. They thought it was a dud. When they won first price they thought it was hilarious, and Felix decided to take that opportunity to win some fame. What are the chances?
Sadly, however, the story did not end happily for Felix Powell. This is not a story of rags to riches, per se. Rather, this is a story about the humbling and very real impact of gruesome warfare.
When Powell first got to the front lines, he felt really good about himself, as anyone would. His song was hopeful. Cheerful.
“Pack up your troubles in your old kit bag, And smile, smile, smile, While you’ve a lucifer to light your fag, Smile, boys, that’s the style. What’s the use of worrying? It never was worthwhile, so Pack up your troubles in your old kit bag, And smile, smile, smile.”
Powell was giving these boys a happy message while they tried to survive, far from home.
As the war dragged on, however, Powell began to see just how tragic trench warfare was. He visited battlefield after battlefield, and it dawned on him that these boys were dying. Thousands of them were dying. They were undertaking the ultimate sacrifice, in fact, and he was strumming away at them asking them to smile smile smile. According to the singer at my concert, as well as the article posted above, Powell began to see the contradiction between his light-hearted message and the world he and these boys were actually living in. He became filled with regret, and he never really was the same.
Powell pursued some other writing opportunities after WWI, but he had a rough time of it. When the Second World War broke out and the song gained popularity with a new generation of fighters, you can imagine him grimacing. Now his song was going to be used to make light of more young men marching towards death.
In 1942, Powell, who had entered his town’s Home Guard, dressed himself in his uniform, took his assigned rifle, and aimed at his heart. It is a shocking mark of how much his experiences had impacted him, and perhaps how much regret had come to overshadow any level of success he had ever enjoyed.
I found this story to be deeply moving. Many entertainers, of course, have gone overseas to try to cheer up the troops. You never really think how that impacts those celebrities, though. How can you perform with joy and verve and cheer when you know that you are trying to raise peoples’ spirits who could be killed on the field? It puts war itself, as well as entertainment tied to war, into a very real, and oft overlooked, perspective.
#NaPoWriMo Veracity vs Mendacity
April 9, 2017
— 2 Comments
Cactus in bloom
What happened to our capacity to judge complete dreck from veracity?
How low will we need to go before we recognize the well disguised foe?
Supporting wolves in sheep’s’ clothing will replace our peace with loathing
Pull the wool from over your eyes, look directly at the reasons they lie.
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- #GloPoWriMo
Please join poets from around the world to ride the poetry train in April. Read, write, recite, or compete in one of the many contests. Check out the action here.
Power Struggles
April 8, 2017
She won’t have an easy time of it, but the Virgo Moon will do her best to keep us grounded in reality today. She is strongly supported by a Grand Trine in earth created by a trine to Pluto in Capricorn and Mars in Taurus. This influence is strongest late morning through mid afternoon. Today […]
via Virgo Moon keeps us grounded today 4-7-2017 — Libra Seeking Balance
Entitled Ignorance #NaPoWriMo
April 3, 2017
— 1 Comment
the fuzz
the enforcer
the fuzz
Power to the heavily armed, confusion for the rest
Our resources have been confiscated to feed the hungry pest
Who dominates our life and times with injustice and pain
It is hard to say how many will survive this corrupt reign
Sitting it out is impossible because it runs right up to your door
Knocking down all that is holy in the name of an eternal war
#NaPoWriMo2017
Please ride the poetry train all month in April to find new poets, or find the poet in you. All are welcome all month.
#GloPoWriMo
Planet Post Up – Jupiter Square Pluto, Mercury in Taurus, Saturn Retrograde, Venus Retrograde
March 31, 2017
— 1 Comment
Change in the heavens
➤ Summary.
March 29, 2017
— 2 Comments
Take heed, mortals
Skip to death, to spoil the beginning
Flip a breath, to loyal wishful thinking
Tic-toc! – ‘It won’t slow down or rush’
A date won’t procrastinate. Shhh shush.
Do you care if ‘the sun’ shines today?
If rain pours… What do you display?
Do you bother with “Good morning?”
If it’s not yours… border the warning.
“Signs” for taking are along the way
An awakening is repeated every day
A voice, a noun, a told… your reward
Don’t look down, hold on to the cord
Task the ask, for the mask has ‘a tax’
Soon it’ll be done, won’t total to none
Feel an announce from ocean’s station
Spill at once, ’emotions’ by revelation
The respected milestones of this life
‘Time by time’ with unexpected strife
The dealt seriousness, denied simper
The felt, not the illness of the thinker
Act now, bow, for life is prime & hour
Timed by…
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