Short Political Rant #1 (Stolen from my Facebook commentary)

We on the left need to quit acting like politics is a great big happy-ass suburban soccer game where there are no losers and everybody gets ice cream after. We need some loud old-fashioned 30s style union activist type lefties! We have to start playing like this game is for keeps!

The fear factory on the right not only ignores actual facts, it manufactures it's own. They spew distortions, half truths and lies to keep the sheep in line.

Deregulation and greed made jobs go overseas. Reagan started the union busting in the 80s. The repugs in congress would rather work on preventing abortions than creating jobs. Fuck the right.

Political Rant #2

All private money needs to be removed from elections. All third party ads need to be out. All lobbying of legislators needs to end. Only then will we be rid of corporate influence in politics. But with the Republicans holding the House and only a slim Democratic majority in the Senate, don't hold your breath. The Republicans will continue to whore for their corporate masters as long as they are allowed to.

Stop the Liars

Stop the liars
Stop the lies

They kill the truth
and steal your minds
corrupt the system
and let the future die

Stop the liars
Stop the lies
Stop the liars
Stop the lies

They use bogus morality
as a shield to hide
the evil and hatred
on which they thrive

Stop the liars
Stop the lies
Stop the liars
Stop the lies

Power mad and greedy
they want all of the pie
sell the American Dream
so they can steal your slice

Stop the liars
Stop the lies
Stop the liars
Stop the lies

American Taliban who
try to deny
that church and state
should not be combined

Stop the liars
Stop the lies
Stop the liars
Stop the lies

Corporate money turns
the electoral tide
the rich getting richer
the poor left to die

Stop the liars
Stop the lies
Stop the liars
Stop the lies
Stop the liars
Stop the lies
Stop the liars
Stop the lies

Invisible II

New Years Eve, 1986. We started early and had three cars full of people. we drove around a while, then stopped out at the big park on the north side of town to regroup and plan the next move. One of the girls told us that a friend of hers was having a house party, since her parents were gone. We mounted up and headed out. Approaching one of the busiest intersections in the city, I forgot how early it was. I stopped for the red light, but my mind read it as flashing red which works like a stop sign.
I looked left, right and left again. No cars either way, so away I went. Through the still red light. No crash, no horns honking, no police to stop me. I still to this day don't quite believe I got away with that one.

Beer Slushies/The Long Wait in the Dark/The Adequate Escape

Friday night, mid winter. 11:30 P.M. or there abouts. Doc, Gramps, T. and I pull up in front of T.s house. We wanted to have one more beer before we dropped her off for the night,but they were all semi-frozen. T.s dad had told her not to have anybody in the house,but he wasn't supposed to be home for over an hour. We warmed up the stove, opened our beers and set them on the burners. about ten minutes in, (and with the beers still not thawed) we spotted headlights coming up the driveway. "Oh shit", yelled T., "it's my dad!" We grabbed the half-thawed beers and followed T. quickly up to her room,where we hid out in the dark for about three hours.
We sat quietly, not moving, on the floor hiding as well as we could behind furniture. We barely spoke or moved the entire time,only a few whispered words. Occasionally, T. would sneak over to the door and look down the stairway, only to see her dad still sitting in his chair. He never made a move to come up the stairs and find us, but he never moved from his spot in the living room, either. I am sure he knew we were there.
Finally, we decided that the only way out was the window. T.s room was in the front of the house, with a window that looked out over a small overhanging roof above the front porch. We quietly opened the window and one at a time climbed onto the overhang and jumped into the front yard. From the lowest point on that overhang roof it was probably eight feet to the frozen ground, but we all managed to make it uninjured. We got to the car and pushed it half a block before getting in and starting it so T.s dad wouldn't hear it.

Fractal Memory #6

Five of us sit on the hill
near the water
summer sun but a cool breeze
blowing in off the lake
as we sit in the sun to dry off
smoking cigarettes and drinking beer

Fractal Memory #5

The barking dog wakes us
early summer Sunday morning
hazy from the night before
we make love then return to sleep
awaken love sleep again
four or five times
I don't remember now
we finally leave the bed in early evening
and sit on the balcony
grilling steaks and drinking
in the low sun of the afternoon