The Late, Great Leonard Cohen and Scrapping Up Some Extraneous Dark Matter, 29
HAPPY EARTH DAY, April 22, 2022
Arteriosclerosis, a definition>arteries narrow and harden leading to poor circulation of blood throughout the body.
Poets speak to us about ourselves and others and how we belong. Good music, among other things, lowers blood pressure.
A Mess On the Floor
Did you know that U.S. senators Ted Cruz of Texas and Mike Lee of Utah think of themselves as, uh, well, constitutional scholars, who claim to adhere to the sanctity of the Constitution. And I’m a wealthy investment banker living in Geneva.
What we know now, thanks in part to the January 6 Commission, is that these two overrated hypocrites (hardly alone in the U.S. Congress)—and sanctimonious liars—were attempting to help overthrow (committing treason) a presidential election starting shortly after Donald Trump, the barely literate grifter and arguably one of the most unqualified louts to ever occupy the White House, lost the election plain and simple and the United States once more escaped by the skin-of-its-teeth.
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The white, straight, theocratic right is so determined to return the country to some fantasy of exclusive control by white, straight men, it is that, it’s a fantasy. (Tony Kushner, author, playwright, screenwriter, Pulitzer prize winner and Tony Award)
Truth Has Nothing to Do With It
Cleaning Out the Closet
Of course we’re all tired of hearing about this stuff, the endless human stupidity, corruption and manipulation. I certainly am. But I suspect most of us would be even more upset about living in a full blown, actual, authoritarian country, even the “illiberal democracy” kind that Hungary advertises.
How’s that “freedom” thing many of us like to squawk about doing for you? Do I (1) think the Republican party is overwhelmingly nothing more than an anti-democratic, authoritarian, dangerous cult that will have to be confronted, increasingly likely in the street? Uh, huh.
Do I (2) believe that a large percentage of Americans have virtually no understanding of the U.S. Constitution and how our government works? The doubts have pretty much vanished.
Do I (3) believe that a large percentage of Americans are easily manipulated by real, anti-democratic actors in the U.S.? And, from abroad? I’d like to have doubts but don’t anymore. The examples continue to pile up.
Do I (4) think that a large percentage of Americans have little actual understanding about the history of North America and the arrival of Europeans? This one I’ve believed for a very long time.
At what point can you rationally stop believing it will all just fade away and become nothing more than a bad dream, a “bit” of undigested food or a momentary lapse into insanity. No, this thing called the global “free” market is basically hollowing out the planet … but please show me I’m wrong, but better make it quick.
Narcissistic billionaires are getting tiresome and belong to the fading 20th century and ultimately know less than you might think or desperately want to believe.
And the most controversial of them all, because they’ve been around for such a long time and are part and parcel of the makeup of Homo sapiens: Sure, they sometimes make us feel good and provide a degree of comfort. At least we want them to.
At one point they might have explained lightening in the sky, a bad corn crop or why you should obey your betters, but it’s really time to regard it as nothing more than a light breeze brushing across your face or marvel at the trickery of the magician cutting the woman in half. We’re on our own, collectively if we’re at all minimally smart. No there is not now and never was an invisible sky god watching over anything.
You’ve Outgrown Those Bell Bottom Trousers
The exercise of reason is not available only to specialists, it is accessible to everyone. What is needed is to refuse the lies proffered by priests and other fantasymongers and to look squarely and calmly at the true nature of things. All speculation—all science, all morality, all attempts to fashion a life worth living—must start and end with a comprehension of the invisible seeds of things: atoms and the void and nothing else.
{The above quotation comes from the book, The Swerve, by Stephen Greenblatt, referencing Poggio Bracciolini who, in 1417, discovered a manuscript lost to history for a thousand years. This was a lengthy poem written by Lucretius around 54 BCE, entitled, On the Nature of Things. Arguably one of the most remarkable literary finds in human history, considering the time it was written and the observations that Lucretius made some 2,000 years ago.}
I’ve often wondered what secrets the Vatican library might still hold on the real “nature” of things, as observed during antiquity. Ah, but I’m now sounding like a conspiracy theorist.
“The two extreme groups are similar in surprising ways. They are the whitest and the richest of the seven groups…”
Why the Past 10 Years of American Life Have Been
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Do I believe in democracy? More than ever. But to succeed it can never be a passive activity under any circumstances and certainly not something you can leave to others. This means as well, on an individual basis, you can’t let others do the thinking for you. This is easier said than done in a world, at the present time, dominated by social media.
Those in America that have aided and abetted treason for far too long (entitled to their long day in court), especially the ones who claim to represent us, need to be held accountable in no uncertain terms.
Listening to Music May Help Digestion
Why wouldn’t Putin’s Ukraine objective be to just try and hold tight. After all, how long will Americans be willing to tolerate inconvenience and rising prices … let alone a new Covid variant or increasing environmental disasters?
Being required to wear a face mask, for example, during a dangerous global pandemic was simply too difficult for so many Americans. Now Europe may have good intentions, living near a nuclear thug state like Russia, but they were happy to take Russia’s oil and gas before the invasion of Ukraine. They are still dependent on Russia’s fossil fuels.
Yes, America’s sad truth is dismal: We now have so many Americans that don’t want democracy and we now have so many charlatans on their white horses ready to lead them to the edge of the cliff. The autocrats know this. History has shown it to be true over and over again. But all of us have a part to play changing the outcome. May we live in interesting times.
One last song fom Leonard Cohen: