Friday, December 4, 2020
Sunday, November 29, 2020
The Rule of Law is More Fragile than We Know
Poster Art from the WPA.
It is against the law to sell an ounce of MaryJane. Or sell a couple of your Percocets to get cigarette money. And both those events go on in my Hood on a regular basis. And the people committing these "crimes" are just everyday good folk. I know them. They are my neighbors. Draconian drug laws caused the Philly police to illegally search my daughter one day when she was coming home from work. Just putzing along one block from our door. They ridiculed her, they attempted to intimidate her, and they searched her.
We have many people in everyday and political life who are "moral indignation junkies." They love being able to pounce on people and prove what morally superior people they are. And they genuinely believe they are morally superior. Kind of like Religious Authoritarians do. They have no idea how off putting and morally offensive they themselves are. Too bad malignant scrupulosity is not painful, except to others.
For the powerful, this moral indignation and scrupulosity and enforcement does not seem to apply. Being a SCOTUS Justice is a license to cheat on your income tax evidently. The IRS will ignore your August Ass "forgetting" to file all your income, although Al Capone went to jail for that. What would happen to the Average Joe who hid thousands from the IRS for years?
Being a law abiding person is not a sane strategy in America any more. When the government takes money from us to run things properly, and we see corruption at every level of leadership, what is the incentive not to be a Crook or a Corpo? There is none. Public corruption destroys more than the economy. Public corruption destroys public trust. Public corruption is turning our cities into wastelands, our roads into rubble and destroying our souls.
57
Govern the country by regular rules;
Direct the army by cunning moves;
But win the world by avoiding fuss.
How do I know that this is so?
Inward light!
Beneath heaven,
The more rules and prohibitions there are,
The poorer the people become.
The sharper the weapons there are,
The greater the country's confusion.
The cleverer the people become,
The more cunning acts take place.
The more laws and orders there are,
The more thieves and robbers appear.
Therefore the sage says:
I do nothing,
And the people of themselves reform.
I love stillness,
And the people of themselves grow straight.
I don't fuss,
And the people of themselves get rich.
I don't want,
And the people of themselves grow simple.
It is against the law to sell an ounce of MaryJane. Or sell a couple of your Percocets to get cigarette money. And both those events go on in my Hood on a regular basis. And the people committing these "crimes" are just everyday good folk. I know them. They are my neighbors. Draconian drug laws caused the Philly police to illegally search my daughter one day when she was coming home from work. Just putzing along one block from our door. They ridiculed her, they attempted to intimidate her, and they searched her.
We have many people in everyday and political life who are "moral indignation junkies." They love being able to pounce on people and prove what morally superior people they are. And they genuinely believe they are morally superior. Kind of like Religious Authoritarians do. They have no idea how off putting and morally offensive they themselves are. Too bad malignant scrupulosity is not painful, except to others.
For the powerful, this moral indignation and scrupulosity and enforcement does not seem to apply. Being a SCOTUS Justice is a license to cheat on your income tax evidently. The IRS will ignore your August Ass "forgetting" to file all your income, although Al Capone went to jail for that. What would happen to the Average Joe who hid thousands from the IRS for years?
Being a law abiding person is not a sane strategy in America any more. When the government takes money from us to run things properly, and we see corruption at every level of leadership, what is the incentive not to be a Crook or a Corpo? There is none. Public corruption destroys more than the economy. Public corruption destroys public trust. Public corruption is turning our cities into wastelands, our roads into rubble and destroying our souls.
57
Govern the country by regular rules;
Direct the army by cunning moves;
But win the world by avoiding fuss.
How do I know that this is so?
Inward light!
Beneath heaven,
The more rules and prohibitions there are,
The poorer the people become.
The sharper the weapons there are,
The greater the country's confusion.
The cleverer the people become,
The more cunning acts take place.
The more laws and orders there are,
The more thieves and robbers appear.
Therefore the sage says:
I do nothing,
And the people of themselves reform.
I love stillness,
And the people of themselves grow straight.
I don't fuss,
And the people of themselves get rich.
I don't want,
And the people of themselves grow simple.
Time Wounds All Heels. Did somebody famous say that? TO BE CONTINUED - I NEED COFFEE.
Fannie Brice: “Time heals all wounds and wounds all heels.”
I have killed people. God saved me from succeeding. I would tell the story, but in our current civil condition, it would seem more like braggadocio than confession. Lady Shrink and I are talking about rage, mine specifically and otherwise.
I have not been able to write more so I have not come back for awhile. While I was trying to figure out wtf I am doing here, I came across the best depiction of bipolar rage and working class pain I know about. And I discovered that Nina Simone is also bipolar. So I am sharing it to compensate you for this literary interruptus. It is embarrassing but I do not want to tell lies...
Wednesday, November 25, 2020
Monday, October 12, 2020
Ram Sex. Seriously?
I think it important to note that Albert Mohler Jr. was running for President of Southern Baptist Convention.
Citing a desire to serve as a uniter amid turbulent times, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President R. Albert Mohler Jr. said in October he had agreed to accept a nomination to serve as SBC president at the 2021 SBC Annual Meeting.
So, I made myself read an essay Is Your Baby Gay? What If You Could Know? What If You Could Do Something About It? by Albert Mohler Jr.. Nothing like a good dose of old time Religion early in the day. Bracing. Woke me right up.
Mohler makes a mad dash for Reality. You, Cher Reader, must tell me if he made it. This is one of his conclusions:
Christians must be very careful not to claim that science can never prove a biological basis for sexual orientation. We can and must insist that no scientific finding can change the basic sinfulness of all homosexual behavior. The general trend of the research points to at least some biological factors behind sexual attraction, gender identity, and sexual orientation. This does not alter God's moral verdict on homosexual sin (or heterosexual sin, for that matter), but it does hold some promise that a deeper knowledge of homosexuality and its cause will allow for more effective ministries to those who struggle with this particular pattern of temptation. If such knowledge should ever be discovered, we should embrace it and use it for the greater good of humanity and for the greater glory of God.
The essay gave me cold chills. My Pervert Alarm is clanging bigtime. There is a detailed discussion about the mechanics of turning gay Rams straight. Not the football kind of Rams.
Asexual folks need to recuse themselves from discussions about Sex and Society. Illiterate consumers of the Bible the same. Most folk with sexual fetishes do the decent thing and make home videos. Albert Mohler, in the marketplace of ideas, all you are is what you write. Bestiality for Science and God? Cover your proclivities, Love, because your ramrod is out.
Note: I work with this definition of Religion. One can be an anti-theist or atheist and still be 'religious' if we see Religion as a function of the human psyche as Wm. James attests:
Religion...shall mean for us the feelings, acts, and experiences of individual men in their solitude, so far as they apprehend themselves to stand in relation to whatever they may consider the divine. Since the relation may be either moral, physical, or ritual, it is evident that out of religion in the sense in which we take it, theologies, philosophies, and ecclesiastical organizations may secondarily grow. - The Varieties of Religious Experience, Lecture II, "Circumscription of the Topic"
The most interesting research along these lines relates to the study of sheep. Scientists at the U.S. Sheep Experiment Station are conducting research into the sexual orientation of sheep through "sexual partner preference testing." As William Saletan at Slate.com explains:The vision of a bunch of men sweating in a barn, tugging off some ram's penises and telling themselves they are doing Science cracks me up. Think their penises were flaccid during the event? I wonder if there were any women present. LMAO. Fluffing rams for Jesus.
A bare majority of rams turn out to be heterosexual. One in five swings both ways. About 15 percent are asexual, and 7 percent to 10 percent are gay. What makes the sheep "sexual partner preference testing" research so interesting is that the same scientists who are documenting the rather surprising sexual behaviors of male sheep think they can also change the sexual orientation of the animals.
Asexual folks need to recuse themselves from discussions about Sex and Society. Illiterate consumers of the Bible the same. Most folk with sexual fetishes do the decent thing and make home videos. Albert Mohler, in the marketplace of ideas, all you are is what you write. Bestiality for Science and God? Cover your proclivities, Love, because your ramrod is out.
Note: I work with this definition of Religion. One can be an anti-theist or atheist and still be 'religious' if we see Religion as a function of the human psyche as Wm. James attests:
Religion...shall mean for us the feelings, acts, and experiences of individual men in their solitude, so far as they apprehend themselves to stand in relation to whatever they may consider the divine. Since the relation may be either moral, physical, or ritual, it is evident that out of religion in the sense in which we take it, theologies, philosophies, and ecclesiastical organizations may secondarily grow. - The Varieties of Religious Experience, Lecture II, "Circumscription of the Topic"
Friday, September 25, 2020
I think the Revolution might be all my Sister's fault.
Graphic by Buddy McCue. If you go to the subject panel on the left panel and click on
his name, you can see more of his work.
My Sister Margie is a righteous all hymning no sinning Bible believing Black Woman. Margie calls me her "Italian Sister." We canvased for Obama together.
I wanted a
house. Margie and I prayed about it. I got a house. I needed money for a new
roof. We prayed about it. New roof. I do not invoke our little prayer circle
lightly. Be sure you want whatever it is you trying to get from Universe. Hang with Margie and you might get it.
About 6 years ago, Margie and I started praying for a Revolution. We were of the opinion that we needed one bigtime. Ta
da! Shazam! One appeared.
I am a terrible Christian. Terrible. Lapsed Catholic. Angry Quaker.
Margie is one of the best people I know. So, our current upheaval must all be Margie's fault. I know God loves me absolutely. I think God does not take me seriously.
I know I am not the only one who takes Gil Scott Heron seriously.
Friday, September 18, 2020
I am a Twitter Reject
Twits say I advocated violence. I say I write Doggerel. Doggerel is vicious and funny and it has to rhyme. Meter is usually simple. Twitter told me "Here's your hat, do not come back."
Here is my crime in a poem below. I also said Kevin McCarthy is a dumbass. That made me persona non grata. Oh, and I suggested facebook and twitter be made public utilities. I just do not know how to shut up.
Here is my crime in a poem below. I also said Kevin McCarthy is a dumbass. That made me persona non grata. Oh, and I suggested facebook and twitter be made public utilities. I just do not know how to shut up.
Spineless Susan is a dick.
Smack her with a goodly stick.
Eat her liver with a nice Chianti
Or beat her peacefully with Avenatti.
How about a filthy one just for fun. Hey, after a dry time, at least I am writing.
Song #2 for My Hero
Avenatti does not come from Madrascopyright MDeAngelis
But his balls must be made out of brass.
In Stormy weather,
They clanged clang together
And sparks burned Michael Cohen in the ass.
Monday, August 31, 2020
My Dad's Long Drive in the Country Car Songs
My Mom and Dad loved to take long car trips. We all sang on long car drives. Sometimes we had a radio and sometimes we did not. We sang these songs anyway. Con brio.
We always stopped at an ice cream stand that looked like an ice cream cone. Roadside attractions in the 50s tended to look like what they were selling.
We would drive down the Delaware River sometimes and at one bridge you could get charcoal broiled hot dogs and real root beer from the window of an old frame house.
Minnie the Moocher is a jazz song first recorded in 1931 by Cab Calloway and His Orchestra, selling over a million copies. He sings it in this Betty Boop cartoon disguised as a dancing walrus.
Louis Prima (December 7, 1910 – August 24, 1978) was an Italian-American singer, actor, songwriter, and trumpeter. Prima rode the musical trends of his time, starting with his seven-piece New Orleans style jazz band in the late 1920s, then leading a swing combo in the 1930s, a big band in the 1940s, a Vegas lounge act in the 1950s, and a pop-rock band in the 1960s.
We always stopped at an ice cream stand that looked like an ice cream cone. Roadside attractions in the 50s tended to look like what they were selling.
We would drive down the Delaware River sometimes and at one bridge you could get charcoal broiled hot dogs and real root beer from the window of an old frame house.
Everytime I hear one of these songs, I am transported to happy. Love you, Dad. Miss you every day.
ACCENTUATE THE POSITIVE ~ Johnny Mercer & The Pied Pipers (1945) (live recording). Words by: Johnny Mercer - Music by: Harold Arlen - copyright: 1944
Minnie the Moocher is a jazz song first recorded in 1931 by Cab Calloway and His Orchestra, selling over a million copies. He sings it in this Betty Boop cartoon disguised as a dancing walrus.
Saturday, August 29, 2020
Primer on Propaganda for RESISTERS. Go HIGH; Stay HIGH.
By bootster
That's what I am hearing as well. The GOP are trying to make it impossible to believe what you read anymore, but the truth is, it's only to be highly doubted by when they are the authors. They are still not convincing the Democrats to do the same thing.
I have noticed a lot of folks on here wanting the Democrats to get to the level of the GOP. That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard, but it's only because those particular individuals have the capacity to want to "fight like that".
If I wanted to, I could get down and dirty and start to throw insults at the people who attack me on here, but that's what they want. They want to get me to start the personal attacks so they can point to them, smearing me.
The GOP are doing the same thing. They want the Democrats to go full down and dirty so they can use actual clips of them saying things that no politician should ever say, and then it's GAME OVER for the Democrats.
The GOP OWN the "media", and they would come out the winners if the Democrats ever started to get into the gutter with them. The trolls on here thought that they could ban me by now by luring me into a tit for tat personal assault fest, and that would be a sure way to get myself banned, and that's what they want.
The same tactic is being used by the GOP. They are trying to piss off the liberals to come out and start looking like the cretins that THEY are, but it's not working. We just won't go there. This pardoning of Libby was a direction to get the liberals upset enough that some may break and go to the gutter, and then it's over for them.
The deal here is the the GOP can say any nasty thing they want, and they get away with it, but the Democrats would commit suicide by doing that, so now they are attacking the Democrats for being "weak". The trolls who are constantly complaining that the Democrats are weak are just trying to get them to commit suicide by going to the mat and self destructing in the "media" shortly thereafter.
"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win".
- Mahatma Gandhi
- Mahatma Gandhi
Poster by Mitchell Loeb, 1934. The Jewish Labor Committee, the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union, the Labor Chest to Combat Nazism and Fascism, and others made use of it in outreach campaigns.
Wednesday, August 19, 2020
My Roma Tomato and Me
I planted two Roma tomatoes last year. I was overwhelmed by tomatoes. This Spring, because I do the Ruth Stout thing and mulch like crazy, I was blessed with about 100 volunteer tomato sprouts. I will never have to purchase seeds or plants again.
If you anticipate having too many tomatoes, you might be happy to have Ms. Mary Giblin's recipe.
Bill Giblin, Mary's son, did the technical drawings in 1938 for my Father's model airplane The Trenton Terror. People are still building the model all these years later.
Bill also played a Munchkin Soldier in the film The Wizard of Oz. He once showed me an autographed studio photograph of Margaret Hamilton he kept as a souvenir.
I used to go with my Dad to visit the Giblin's. They would make us Creamed Chicken and Waffles. Mrs. Giblin would send some Chili Sauce home with us. It is delicious with Cheese. It is savory but not hot.
Ms. Mary Giblin's Old Fashioned Sweet Chili Sauce
6 Onions
3 green Peppers
18 medium ripe Tomatoes
1 cup Brown Sugar
2 1/2 cups strong Vinegar
2 level teaspoons Salt
1 teaspoon each Cinnamon, Allspice, Nutmeg, and Mace (if you can find it)
1/2 teaspoon Cloves
Chop or grind the Onions and Peppers finely. Cut up the Tomatoes into small pieces. Cook all together slowly for 2 1/2 hours. Watch closely and stir often. Sugar makes things burn easily. Makes about 5 pints.
If you anticipate having too many tomatoes, you might be happy to have Ms. Mary Giblin's recipe.
Bill Giblin, Mary's son, did the technical drawings in 1938 for my Father's model airplane The Trenton Terror. People are still building the model all these years later.
Bill also played a Munchkin Soldier in the film The Wizard of Oz. He once showed me an autographed studio photograph of Margaret Hamilton he kept as a souvenir.
I used to go with my Dad to visit the Giblin's. They would make us Creamed Chicken and Waffles. Mrs. Giblin would send some Chili Sauce home with us. It is delicious with Cheese. It is savory but not hot.
Ms. Mary Giblin's Old Fashioned Sweet Chili Sauce
6 Onions
3 green Peppers
18 medium ripe Tomatoes
1 cup Brown Sugar
2 1/2 cups strong Vinegar
2 level teaspoons Salt
1 teaspoon each Cinnamon, Allspice, Nutmeg, and Mace (if you can find it)
1/2 teaspoon Cloves
Chop or grind the Onions and Peppers finely. Cut up the Tomatoes into small pieces. Cook all together slowly for 2 1/2 hours. Watch closely and stir often. Sugar makes things burn easily. Makes about 5 pints.
I looked up PERVERSE.

I can be deliberately perverse. I am contrary, difficult, unreasonable, uncooperative, unhelpful, obstructive, disobliging, recalcitrant, stubborn, obstinate, obdurate, mulish, pigheaded, bullheaded and refractory like any other human being. I do not play well with others.
I prefer being cheerful and cooperative. I like the way it feels. And like all human beings, I can choose to be the Devil or the Angel me.
I think it is hysterical that the Trump administration DOJ has taken the position in Ohio that not voting regularly is going to void one's voter registration. Trump is obsessed with losing the popular vote. How so? Trump is doing his best to rig the election while complaining about the election being rigged since 2017 at least.
The Trump administration redoubled its support on Monday for efforts to remove people from voter registration rolls, siding with the state of Ohio in a case that could allow states to cancel registrations for voters who fail to cast a ballot over the course of several elections. Read more...
Folks are perverse. Many people who never voted before or voted sporadically will now VOTE with all their might just to fuck the Trump administration. When folks vote in greater numbers, Democrats win. This Trump action is the same as loading up the old Glock and shooting yourself in the foot. Donald J Trump - deal maker extraordinaire.
And the Russians are reading me again. How odd. Leola B. Wilson and Coot Grant: Vocals.
And the Russians are reading me again. How odd. Leola B. Wilson and Coot Grant: Vocals.
Friday, July 24, 2020
On Not Writing

It is also true that what does come from my fingers on social media is scary to type and feel and think. Yes, this is me the nonviolent conscientious objector snowflake saying, if a man with a gun and no formal insignia frightens and puts you in fear of injury or death, you kill him. That is your right and responsibility to yourself and fellow citizens IMO.
In the meantime, have some Dave Brubeck. I had the pleasure of listening to the Quartet on a June evening, under a tent, as the Delaware River flowed on by. Anybody else remember The Music Circus? "Music hath charms to soothe a savage breast." - The Mourning Bride, by William Congreve.
Sunday, July 12, 2020
Flying on Thanksgiving? Shave your legs. - with Updates below the Flower Colophon
UPDATES BELOW: There is a new change in procedure at TSA since I wrote this seven years ago. Groping has gotten more sincere. Time to try my solution? Illustration from Second Story Window.

I am for a major civil rights action. But I say: Do not opt out of the scanner and make them grope you to protest, even though it surely will mess things up bigtime.
Too tame for me. Too much chance you will make your fellow humans mad. Make them mad and they will not support your cause. I say, give the people you are going to inconvenience some bang for their buck.

If you have not been tazed and/or arrested at the end of your revolution (yes, this is a pun and I intentionally committed it), calmly stand in line and put your clothes back on. Make everybody wait. Let everyone take pictures.
I think we could pay people to do this, if we have to. I did it in high heels on New York City bars for money, so I know you will not have a problem finding personnel. Be sure to have the protesters revolve (revolt?...revolutionize?) in more than one airport. Ask patriotic porn stars to do it pro bono. Everybody wants to make a contribution.
Problem solved. Probably take about three weeks for The Suits to construct a backdown narrative and get it out there to The Media. Be the best political caucus race and general circus you ever saw. Think of the jokes on late night TV. Problem solved. Maybe I will run for President.
I wrote the initial essay above about the Transportation Safety Authority in November 2010 when folks were considering a huge protest. It is seven years later. Maybe they have gotten worse? Maybe it is time to do it my way? More information at the links.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/10/10/dying-woman-tsa-wanted-to-check-under-my-bandages/
A woman who’s dying of leukemia says that agents with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) at Sea-Tac Airport in Seattle forced her to lift up her shirt in front of a crowd so they could check underneath her bandages.Disabled cancer patient slammed to the ground by TSA guards, lawsuit claims
Hannah Cohen, 18, was on her way home from St Jude’s Hospital when a scanner went off and led to incident that left her ‘physically and emotionally’ injuredHands On with the TSA's New 'Enhanced' Pat-Down Procedure
The government goes for second-base. By JOHN MCCORMACK
I'm not a crazy ACLU-type. I've had no problem with body-scanners or previous TSA pat-downs. In 2009, a terrorist famously smuggled a bomb in his underwear aboard a U.S. flight. But an agent of the state should probably only touch a citizen's genitals seven or eight times if the agent has reasonable suspicion, and not because a machine is malfunctioning or calibrated, intentionally or unintentionally, to detect explosives on everyone who is tested.I am a 'crazy ACLU type' and a rape survivor. I would announce before pat down 'Touch my genitals and I break your face.' Then do my best to break the face. I do not fly.
Friday, July 10, 2020
Nick Sings Dixie
Way down South
In the Land of Cotton
Racism there is kind of rotten.
Oy vey!
Oy vey!
Oy vey!
It's Dixie Land.
I am so sorry to report that Nick Vanocur has died. He is sorely missed by friends and fans.
In the Land of Cotton
Racism there is kind of rotten.
Oy vey!
Oy vey!
Oy vey!
It's Dixie Land.
I am so sorry to report that Nick Vanocur has died. He is sorely missed by friends and fans.
Tuesday, June 23, 2020
Mint Julep Oracle
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Saturday that he plans to honor the committee's "blue-slip" rule for the Trump administration's move to nominate Jay Clayton as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York.
Why it matters: Graham holding to this policy — in a clash over one of the highest profile districts in the country — would mean that Clayton's nomination would not be able to advance without approval from home-state Democratic senators, per the Washington Post.
Sometimes I write a perfect sentence or two. Just perfect in every syllable. Not often. But once in awhile. And then I find I have nowhere to put it. Sentence just hangs around. Has Trump destroyed the word perfect? But I digress. I wrote:
Ms. Lindsey dipped a manicured finger into her mint julep, held it up to the breeze and detected a seismic shift in the political universe. Belle's have such exquisite sensibility
Perfect. Maybe if I do the same finger wave with my morning coffee and the breeze from the hole in the floor, I can find out why hundreds of Russians are reading here again. And why, when I mention them, they all go away.
“Man is a mystery. It needs to be unravelled, and if you spend your whole life unravelling it, don't say that you've wasted time. I am studying that mystery because I want to be a human being.”
― Fyodor Dostoevsky
Saturday, June 20, 2020
Cruising for Containers - Ghetto Garden Fabulous
When you garden in a small area like a city garden, the terrace of a hi-rise building or an alley, you can gain or increase planting space by using containers. We have even developed a phrase for this avocation: container gardening. Yes, you can grow potatoes in a laundry basket. Perfect use for a busted basket.
If you go to your standard garden store and price containers, you may find them costly. I mean, it is triage. What do you want more? Exotic new plants or fancy containers?
So many choices in life. How stylish do you want to be? Some people like funk. Some people like glitz or techno. Or whimsy.
So I thought I would present you, cher Readers, with some creative, varied and unusual containers I have gathered from a glorious google tour of the NET container gardening universe.
Look at junk with a creative eye. Anything you have that will hold soil is a possible container. Use industrial horse troughs. Use those capacious old aluminum pots from the thrift shop.
Do not forget that you must punch holes in the bottom of any container you plant in. Do not drown the Petunias.
The Kitchen Fairy Garden below is one woman's answer to the Fairy Garden craze. Ghetto Garden Fabulous!
I think the choice of all white flowers of different textures and heights for all these old silver containers is the work of a gardener with exquisite taste and a sense if humor.

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So I thought I would present you, cher Readers, with some creative, varied and unusual containers I have gathered from a glorious google tour of the NET container gardening universe.

Do not forget that you must punch holes in the bottom of any container you plant in. Do not drown the Petunias.
The Kitchen Fairy Garden below is one woman's answer to the Fairy Garden craze. Ghetto Garden Fabulous!
I think the choice of all white flowers of different textures and heights for all these old silver containers is the work of a gardener with exquisite taste and a sense if humor.
Thursday, June 11, 2020
Signs of the Month - September 2014 - FUCK THE POLICE !

Given what's going down, I thought it was time this came 'round.
This post has musical accompaniment. See below.
Look sharp below for the graffiti poster's sign. It is not immediately evident. The guns kind of get in the way.
Off the Pigs!
I have not had occasion to say that since the 1968 Chicago riots. Feels good. Real good.
Monday, June 8, 2020
Setting a Boundary

The Universe or God (take your pick) often arranges to flout me (teach me) in odd ways.
I have a Shrink. Doesn't everyone? In the 20 years we have been working together, she has given me a direct order twice. Those directions were: "Don't fuck him." and "Stay away from your family." She trusts me and she never pushes my defiance/anger button.
I come from an alcoholic Catholic family with sexual and mental health issues. I am one of the bipolar members who spent ten years drinking and drugging. I have no idea how normal folks behave. We, Shrink and I, spend a lot of time establishing boundaries and rehearsing boundary setting. We talk things over.
My Mother used to do sexual checking. Once she made me remove my underpants so she could check if I had sex, after she dragged me down the street and into the house by my hair. I was twelve and a virgin. Consequently, I do not respond to the feelings of humiliation or embarrassment well at all. Not at all.
I have been attending AA meetings since 1980. I do not go often anymore since my Sponsor died, but I still drop in occasionally to get a therapeutic dose of humility. Humility is not the same as humiliation. Folks are friendly and often come to say Hello if they do not know you.
So this woman asks me "How much time do you have?" People are proud of their time sober. I reply with an AA bromide "I have today. How are you?" The woman launches into a tale of her 30 years of spotless sobriety, never a slip, etc. etc. Then she starts telling me basic shit you teach to Newbies. And I had been coming to the rooms since 1980. And no one sane would lecture a Newbie like that anyway. We are trying to assist Newbies not scare or shame them.
I do not know why, but she pushed my humiliation button. I want credit for those years, even if I was slipping and getting drunk once in awhile. I was still learning. I still had a desire to get sober which is the ONLY REQUIREMENT for membership in AA. I know something about how to get and stay sober. I just stood there and listened, furious, humiliated and smiling. Smiling. I know, now that I have studied interpersonal violence, that she triggered me. I was overcome by a tsunami of shame.
I looked at her closely while smiling. A few lonely folks come to visit at AA who never had a drinking problem in their lives. They come for the fellowship and the coffee. They talk the talk but have never walked the walk. And this lady? One of them. Lady yammered on and I stood there. I had no creative response. I just left. And I fumed and paced for days. By the time I got to talk to Shrink, I was still upset.
When you first start setting boundaries, there is no way to be elegant about it. If you tried to set a boundary in my family, you got beat up. Or you had to beat somebody else up. So you do the best you can.
For a long time, I ran away. That was an awesome defense I learned from the Surrender Group. Works for most situations but not all. I needed a simple-to-get-out-of-my-mouth, reasonably polite and nonviolent way to say NO! Some thing I could get out even when triggered. Some thing that would not include endless explaining.
And Lady Shrink gave me the simplest and the sweetest boundary setter of all. "Mary," she said "Say NO THANK YOU." And the light dawned. This is an all purpose defense.
Saying NO THANK YOU and smiling (and leaving if necessary) works. The abuser has no comeback. What can they say? They just stand there.
No Thank You is so easy to say: polite, nonviolent and thorough. And I can usually get it out of my mouth even when I am furious, scared, humiliated, etc. And it works well with trolls who just want to argue and take offense at trifles.
No thank you. I'm a Barbie girl, in my Barbie world. No thank you. You will drive them boundary banditos up a tree. Peace.
Friday, June 5, 2020
Signs of Recovery
THE 7 STAGES OF TRUMP GRIEF:
1. omg
2. this is so bad
3. yep still so bad
4. we are going to die
5. help
6. somehow even worse today
7. omg
This man speaks to our condition.
- Anonymous
I have stopped screaming at the television. I think maybe I can talk again.rod •Who am I to believe?
Ronald Reagan told us we cannot trust the government, and then to make sure we get the point, the GOP puts the biggest liar and ultimate bullshitter on the ticket. Because they have been conditioned to the point that they don't know who to believe, tons of people decided that since everyone in government lies, we might as well have the best liar available. We now have a government that is sheer dishonesty, starting at the top. Ass holes who will say anything for a buck, line up to defend a man whose credibility is absolutely zero. Fake news, fake president, fake everything. Welcome to the new America, land of bullshit.
CIA did Abu Ghraib and made us war criminals. FBI gave us James Comey. Who gave us Snowden? Trumpus is a demented liar and a gift from Putin. Intelligence EPIC FAIL. Again. Potentially worse than 9/11 terrorism going down. Fascism going down.
We have Russia or "some 400 lb. man sitting on a bed" playing 'see what we can hack' with American 'TV programs. Just a nasty joke, you say? Russia can hack the massive electrical grids. Given how much distrust they have created using stochastic terrorism among Americans, two weeks of no power = ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE. omg.
Saturday, May 30, 2020
POLICY NOT PENIS - or - HE HAS RISEN
Donald Trump has broken all kinds of norms during his presidential campaign, but he just went to a whole new level this morning by tweeting what is supposedly an image of his private-parts. The tweet was quickly deleted but not before being retweeted over 5,000 times. See more here...Clayton Jones is the Editorial Cartoonist.
I searched for Trumpolini's pee-pee-pic. Alas, it really has been deleted.
So I let the MAGIC OF GOOGLE work for me and I found lots about the Donald's pee pee. He keeps it very clean.
It is so huuuge it can double as a flagpole. Daily Call cartoon by Mark L. Taylor, 2015. Open source and free to use with link to www.thedailycall.org
Our Leader - he has a penis* and he uses it.
*and it is huuuggge.
Wednesday, April 22, 2020
April Showers - It is Raining Gardens in Philadelphia

I do not tire of old standards especially when they are mine. Repeating this as a public service. The PWD is moving its content. I have written to them and when I get new information, I will correct the links in this article.
The Philadelphia Water Department has some excellent information about Rain Gardens. You can make that boggy place in your front yard a thing of beauty and help clean and conserve water. Once planted, such a garden is maintained with little to no effort.
The photograph is a rain garden in Philadelphia, designed by Edgar David. Rainwater that flows from the house roof to the stone cistern is used to irrigate an intimate collection of woodland plants. You can read more HERE.
Spring is here. I am ordering Herb Seeds. It is raining gently outside. I am getting that Happy Green Feeling. Now for some Velvet Fog. I repost this every April because I am a fan of Mel Torme, gardens, soft April rain and elegant jazz.
Sunday, April 19, 2020
Musical Interlude for Attitude Adjustment - Ode to Joy
There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats. - Albert Schweitzer
"Over the years, Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" has remained a protest anthem and a celebration of music. From demonstrators in Chile singing during demonstration against the Pinochet dictatorship, Chinese student broadcast at Tiananmen Square, the concert conducted by Leonard Bernstein after the fall of the Berlin Wall and Daiku concerts in Japan every December and one after the 2011 tsunami.
It has recently inspired flashmob performances at public spaces by musicians in many countries worldwide, including Choir Without Borders's 2009 performance at a train station in Leipzig, Germany, to mark the 20th and 25th anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall, Hong Kong Festival Orchestra's 2013 performance at a Hong Kong mall, and performance at Sabodell, Spain." - wikipedia
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