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

I can be quite rude and I do not mind. I have no shame. Thank you God. Why am I so mean? Why are you so nice?

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
 - Anonymous

I have stopped screaming at the television. I think maybe I can talk again.

This man speaks to our condition.
rod

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.
Who am I to believe?

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




And when necessary, Trumpolini wears his raincoat and practices safe sex. 

Our Leader - he has a penis* and he uses it. 

*and it is huuuggge.