by Rich Miles
It's only been 20 months since Bill Moyers, that voice of reason and the underprivileged, announced his retirement, well-earned and not surprising, from his PBS television show Bill Moyers' Journal, on which he had hosted and rabbleroused for some 4-5 years. This was, as near as I can calculate, his fourth or fifth retirement from American television. His other TV efforts included Bill Moyers on America, NOW with Bill Moyers, In Search of the Constitution, The Secret Government: The Constitution in Crisis, The Power of Myth, the original Bill Moyers' Journal, and that only takes us back to 1971. He worked in print journalism for 4 or 5 years before that.
So now that I've given you the precis version of Moyers' resume, let me urge you to watch his newest program, Bill Moyers & Company. His first guests are the co-authors of another one of those books that I think everyone should read, Winner-Take-All Politics, by Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson. In an approximately 40-minute interview, the discussion of how our country ended up in such a place of income and wealth inequality will make you raise an eyebrow or two, but all three participants present their theses so clearly and without undue passion that it is hard to dispute any portion of what they say. I suspect those who will dispute the most will be those very 1%-ers who are discussed at some length in the interview, and who are benefitting the most from the situation.
I have to say, if there is any person in America who does not know that the wealth in America is tipping toward the top severely, that person is probably one of the beneficiaries of the tipping, and is not taking notice so much.
Folks, America is in trouble. The rich are becoming richer, and the poor are becoming poorer. The middle class, of which I s claim membership, is dwindling down to almost nothing, both in influence and in sheer numbers. And the rich are unrepentant, as one might expect them to be, but they are short-sighted! As I have asked several times in the past, perhaps slightly jokingly, but not now, if the rich take EVERYTHING (Winner-take-all), what will happen to the rest of us, and what will the rich do without us to cook for them, clean for them, wipe their noses and their asses?
Do they propose to own us, so that the expense of our services is minimized? Because there is NO way I will believe that these overstuffed bags of shit are simply going to do without. That's the beauty of being obscenely wealthy - you don't have to do without anything, and you don't have to do anything unpleasant for yourself.
It sounds like an unlikely sequence of events, but we're moving toward it even now! I mean, at the current rate of events, we could reach a place where the top 1% of the population will be taking 70-80% of the resources available to the nation. They're already taking over 40% of those resources - that is a stat mentioned in the Moyers program today.
So - as the band Chicago asked in a song of the same name some years ago - Where do we go from here?
Well, I suggest you join the Occupy folks. No telling where that's going, but someone has to speak out against this insufferable greed and theft. And if I am to be perfectly frank, the so-far illogical, but moving toward making perfect sense conclusion to this is - Revolution!
Like the French Revolution - Let them eat cake, indeed!
There is more to say on this topic - I'd like to let you say at least some of it. Send your comments. I promise, all those that are not TOTALLY insane will get published.
Vive la revolution!!!
r
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Sunday, December 25, 2011
The only answer to the problem
by Rich Miles
Well, finally - I mean, fucking finally!!! A guy with a national voice actually says something that I've been saying off and on for YEARS!!
Guy named Jeffrey Sachs, frequent NPR commentator if I am remembering correctly, said in an on-air rant the other day that virtually all Congressdogs, both houses, are owned by their business and industry handlers, and what the voters of this country must do is to make being voted out of office a real fear for these scumbags.
There have been discussions along these lines for decades: term limits for Congress,scaring the bastards with anti-incumbency movements, etc. But nothing ever took hold - and since the Congressdogs themselves were responsible for any legislation that might put the fear of God into them, there was little chance of anything happening on the floor-vote level. This remains true today.
So the only way we can take back control of Congress (as if we ever had control in the past) is to get serious about making moves toward either term limits - vote out any 'Dog who won't support them - or simply organize for anti-incumbency. And we have to be serious about it.
Can we do it? So far, the main move has been for us to say that all Congress is a bunch of thieving bastards EXCEPT our guy - which makes anti-incumbency worth about a half a bucket of warm spit.
I mean, C'MON, people - we have to vote 'em ALL out - even the few that might actually be reasonably decent public servants. Every 4-6 years in the House, and every 12 years in the Senate, there has to be a complete turnover - all new guys.
And if we ever want our country back, and to relieve that simply unfathomable debt, we HAVE to do it. There's no other way.
Well, finally - I mean, fucking finally!!! A guy with a national voice actually says something that I've been saying off and on for YEARS!!
Guy named Jeffrey Sachs, frequent NPR commentator if I am remembering correctly, said in an on-air rant the other day that virtually all Congressdogs, both houses, are owned by their business and industry handlers, and what the voters of this country must do is to make being voted out of office a real fear for these scumbags.
There have been discussions along these lines for decades: term limits for Congress,scaring the bastards with anti-incumbency movements, etc. But nothing ever took hold - and since the Congressdogs themselves were responsible for any legislation that might put the fear of God into them, there was little chance of anything happening on the floor-vote level. This remains true today.
So the only way we can take back control of Congress (as if we ever had control in the past) is to get serious about making moves toward either term limits - vote out any 'Dog who won't support them - or simply organize for anti-incumbency. And we have to be serious about it.
Can we do it? So far, the main move has been for us to say that all Congress is a bunch of thieving bastards EXCEPT our guy - which makes anti-incumbency worth about a half a bucket of warm spit.
I mean, C'MON, people - we have to vote 'em ALL out - even the few that might actually be reasonably decent public servants. Every 4-6 years in the House, and every 12 years in the Senate, there has to be a complete turnover - all new guys.
And if we ever want our country back, and to relieve that simply unfathomable debt, we HAVE to do it. There's no other way.
Thursday, December 22, 2011
He is the very model of a modern Repug asshole
by Rich Miles
UPDATE BELOW
Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the Dishonorable Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI*)- who just last evening had the indecent and unmitigated gall to comment on the ass of the First Lady of the United States.
That's right, he referred to Michelle Obama's backside as a "large posterior".
Now tell me, is there a ruder or bigger piece of shit anywhere in the United States than James Sensenbrenner?
Just as a point of information, African (not necessarily African AMERICAN, though sometimes it is so) women are prone to a condition known as stertopygia, or large buttocks. It's a racial characteristic, and the closer the woman is generationally to Africa, the more likely she is to suffer this condition. Or so I am told by a medical man who is supposed to know these things.
But A) Michelle Obama does NOT suffer it to a large degree, and B) she is the First Lady of the United States and thus due some greater respect than Assh. Sensenbrenner has afforded her, and C) Jim Sensenbrenner is an unrequited asshole whose momma must not have taught him any manners.
Oh, I'm sorry - Sensenbrenner is a Republican. None of the above, therefore, may or should come as a surprise to anyone. ANYone. I mean it. God, these people make me want to throw up.
And I'd love to see the President call Mr. SenSen out, and thrash the crap out of him for insulting Obama's wife.
Sadly, we don't do things that way anymore. But maybe sometimes we should.
UPDATE : Assh. Sensenbrenner apologized for this incident. Doesn't count. He knew he never
should have said it in the first place. It is the height of arrogant racism that he ever said it in the first place. And yes, racism is what it was. If our First Lady were white, this incident would never - NEVER! - have occurred.
.
UPDATE BELOW
Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the Dishonorable Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI*)- who just last evening had the indecent and unmitigated gall to comment on the ass of the First Lady of the United States.
That's right, he referred to Michelle Obama's backside as a "large posterior".
Now tell me, is there a ruder or bigger piece of shit anywhere in the United States than James Sensenbrenner?
Just as a point of information, African (not necessarily African AMERICAN, though sometimes it is so) women are prone to a condition known as stertopygia, or large buttocks. It's a racial characteristic, and the closer the woman is generationally to Africa, the more likely she is to suffer this condition. Or so I am told by a medical man who is supposed to know these things.
But A) Michelle Obama does NOT suffer it to a large degree, and B) she is the First Lady of the United States and thus due some greater respect than Assh. Sensenbrenner has afforded her, and C) Jim Sensenbrenner is an unrequited asshole whose momma must not have taught him any manners.
Oh, I'm sorry - Sensenbrenner is a Republican. None of the above, therefore, may or should come as a surprise to anyone. ANYone. I mean it. God, these people make me want to throw up.
And I'd love to see the President call Mr. SenSen out, and thrash the crap out of him for insulting Obama's wife.
Sadly, we don't do things that way anymore. But maybe sometimes we should.
UPDATE : Assh. Sensenbrenner apologized for this incident. Doesn't count. He knew he never
should have said it in the first place. It is the height of arrogant racism that he ever said it in the first place. And yes, racism is what it was. If our First Lady were white, this incident would never - NEVER! - have occurred.
.
Saturday, December 03, 2011
Office of Congressional Child Supervision
by Rich Miles
Man, I'm tellin' ya, the new formatting on Blogger has given me fits!! I've been trying to make some minor alterations to the following article for over 24 hours, and finally had to delete the whole thing and repost it. Where's the instruction sheet for this bitch?
I'm sorry I've been so long between postings - I've been unwell. I'm a little better, but not what I'd call back to normal. After my stroke - NOT Hashimoto's Encephalopathy, as previously diagnosed - I am a little better, but not totally back to normal. Not sure I ever will be, but at least I'm better than I was right after the event.
Anyway, unwell or no, there are a few matters I want to point up, to wit:
Man, I'm tellin' ya, the new formatting on Blogger has given me fits!! I've been trying to make some minor alterations to the following article for over 24 hours, and finally had to delete the whole thing and repost it. Where's the instruction sheet for this bitch?
I'm sorry I've been so long between postings - I've been unwell. I'm a little better, but not what I'd call back to normal. After my stroke - NOT Hashimoto's Encephalopathy, as previously diagnosed - I am a little better, but not totally back to normal. Not sure I ever will be, but at least I'm better than I was right after the event.
Anyway, unwell or no, there are a few matters I want to point up, to wit:
Republicans are an entire herd of one-trick ponies, whose only trick is tax
cuts. I mean really, when was the last time you heard of a Republican in
Congress proposing, pushing and passing anything BUT tax cuts?
Republicans have gotten away with that trick long enough - since the first
few months of Shrub's first term, or approximately 10 years - they've pushed
almost literally nothing but tax cuts. And we - the American electorate - have
let them get away with it. They've shown their wholesale lack of respect for the
intelligence of the American people by behaving as if it were just inconceivable
that any American would ever vote against a candidate who was instrumental in
the creation of a tax cut.
And with few exceptions, until the last couple of election cycles, they've
been RIGHT. We have been just that stupid, to let the Republicans dangle the
shiny beads of tax cuts in front of us, and we've followed the Republicans over
the cliff of tax cuts.
And now the country is in an absolutely inconceivable deficit mess at
almost every level, and America is on the verge of bankruptcy. And because we
have a Democratic president, the Republicans are getting away with blaming Obama
for debt that could not possibly be his fault.
And ya know what? I am almost positive that this entire mess is intentional
on the part of the Repugnicans.
The song goes like this: tax cut, deficit, reasoning for cutting social
services, more tax cuts, bigger deficits, etc., etc.
And we keep letting the bastards do it!!
What America needs to do is to turn its attitudes toward its legislators
around: they're not big important men who should be listened to. They're our
employees, who should damn well do what we tell them to do!! How do you think
that would play, us telling them that they work for us and that there will be no
more perks, no more legislative skullduggery, no more insider trading, no more
lack of oversight etc. etc.
Because it's true - they work for us, and they must be forced to do what
their bosses want them to do!!!
With computers capable of doing feats of data crunching unheard of as
recently as 10 years ago, I would favor a system of national referenda counted
by computer, and supervised by a Cabinet-level Office of Supervision of the
Children in Congress.
In other words, every time a vote comes up in Congress, Americans would
express their opinions via national computer poll. And that way, Congress would
know what to do. How to vote, how to speak on the Floor, When to jump and how
high. You know, stuff like that. And in order to be hired to the Cabinet-level
office that oversees all this, one would have to prove that one is capable of
really BEING non-partisan!
So if all this went into action, we'd be at our home computers, voting for
legislation, once or twice a day or more. Then we'd know what the will of the
people really is!
No more leaving these assholes to their own devices, to get the country
into all manner of messes. We'd know what they were doing, maybe even be able to
reduce the instances of sexual misconduct and insider trading. And maybe the
sort of men and women attracted to run for Congress would improve a bit, as
having a seat in the House or Senate ceased to be like one big frat party, with
occasional classes to interrupt the nonstop partying.
And the beauty of this plan is that, as I have conceived it, it wouldn't
even require a constitutional amendment. Floor votes, certainly, but not an
amendment.
Of course, all this is so unlikely to happen, because just as with
congressional labor laws, and congressional health coverage, and congressional
child labor laws, the foxes are the ones running the hen coop. I'm afraid I
can't even offer a hint of a solution to that.
But I say again, it needs to be done. Congress is a bloody mess, and no
longer serves the American people in any but the most rudimentary fashion. Think
it over. Then write me with any addendum to this solution that occurs to you. Hey, I'm enough of an optimist to believe that this could at least become a topic of discussion in our nation's capital.
Sunday, October 30, 2011
First time I've been here since the reformatting of the page. It's a little easier to operate by and large.
Anyway, why am I here today? Well, I'm glad you asked. Got a little housekeeping to take care of, to wit:
Cletis, you have my blanket permission, till rescinded, to reprint anything of mine you wish, as long as you credit me. Use your judgment as to how many pieces you should do this with. This permission does NOT apply to any other site. If you want reprint permission, please ask for it. The reason I've been away for so long, almost 6 months by my count, is that my medical condition has gotten worse. In some regards, however, better. My daily function level is higher, and I am able to remember things better in SOME cases. I have discovered a process in which I must try to "shove" items from short-term memory into long-term memory, where they will be more readily retained. My LTM is pretty much intact - I can remember things that happened 55 years ago - but the STM is in tatters! It's a most unpleasant sensation sometimes. Secondly, my apologies to all the commenters whose comments have sat in the waiting queue for months. I hope I've got them all public now. Thirdly, my diagnosis has changed entirely - I am now suspected of having had a low-level stroke, instead of all that other nonsense like Hashimoto's encephalopathy and fronto-temporal dementia etc. I haven't had a brain scan in over 3 years, and am going to try to get one soon. I just want to know what's going on in there, ya know what I mean? And finally, it's come to my attention that the Republicans have this most disconcerting habit: they WARN us of what they're going to do to the country, but they do it in such a way - so far - that it's hard to tell whether to take them seriously or not.
Cletis, you have my blanket permission, till rescinded, to reprint anything of mine you wish, as long as you credit me. Use your judgment as to how many pieces you should do this with. This permission does NOT apply to any other site. If you want reprint permission, please ask for it. The reason I've been away for so long, almost 6 months by my count, is that my medical condition has gotten worse. In some regards, however, better. My daily function level is higher, and I am able to remember things better in SOME cases. I have discovered a process in which I must try to "shove" items from short-term memory into long-term memory, where they will be more readily retained. My LTM is pretty much intact - I can remember things that happened 55 years ago - but the STM is in tatters! It's a most unpleasant sensation sometimes. Secondly, my apologies to all the commenters whose comments have sat in the waiting queue for months. I hope I've got them all public now. Thirdly, my diagnosis has changed entirely - I am now suspected of having had a low-level stroke, instead of all that other nonsense like Hashimoto's encephalopathy and fronto-temporal dementia etc. I haven't had a brain scan in over 3 years, and am going to try to get one soon. I just want to know what's going on in there, ya know what I mean? And finally, it's come to my attention that the Republicans have this most disconcerting habit: they WARN us of what they're going to do to the country, but they do it in such a way - so far - that it's hard to tell whether to take them seriously or not.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Tax cuts are not what they seem
by Rich Miles
I try, God knows I try to help people think about things in new and different ways. Sometimes I succeed. Most times I don't so much.
But think about this: have you ever wondered why Republicans are so het up for tax cuts?
It's not because they think the average American is overtaxed.
It's not because they believe that government is too big, and too far up on the back of the average man.
And it's not because they think we deserve to have more of our money in our pockets instead of the government's.
No, it's none of these reasons, nor any of the other specious reasons they've tried to stuff down our throats, or shove up the other end of our alimentary canals.
It's quite simple, really: They believe that no electorate at large will ever vote out of office a politician who has reduced their taxes!
And so far, they've been mostly right. George W. Bush's first AND second terms were both the result of this belief structure. Especially the second one. For the first one, he had only promised, he hadn't actually done anything yet. And the stupid voters threw a monkey wrench into the works of Clinton's highly successful deficit reduction by falling for the ol' tax reduction two-step.
And they're going to keep on trying this ploy for as long as it works: No ungrateful wretches are ever going to vote out the people who just cut their taxes.
It's yet another way that Republicans are manipulating our electoral system. It's also yet another way that they're showing how stupid they think we are. They think they can run this okie-doke on 100 million voters over and over.
And like I said above, so far - they're right.
So enjoy your tax cuts, people - while the Repugs take away five times as much as you'll ever get from a tax cut, if you live to be 176.
I try, God knows I try to help people think about things in new and different ways. Sometimes I succeed. Most times I don't so much.
But think about this: have you ever wondered why Republicans are so het up for tax cuts?
It's not because they think the average American is overtaxed.
It's not because they believe that government is too big, and too far up on the back of the average man.
And it's not because they think we deserve to have more of our money in our pockets instead of the government's.
No, it's none of these reasons, nor any of the other specious reasons they've tried to stuff down our throats, or shove up the other end of our alimentary canals.
It's quite simple, really: They believe that no electorate at large will ever vote out of office a politician who has reduced their taxes!
And so far, they've been mostly right. George W. Bush's first AND second terms were both the result of this belief structure. Especially the second one. For the first one, he had only promised, he hadn't actually done anything yet. And the stupid voters threw a monkey wrench into the works of Clinton's highly successful deficit reduction by falling for the ol' tax reduction two-step.
And they're going to keep on trying this ploy for as long as it works: No ungrateful wretches are ever going to vote out the people who just cut their taxes.
It's yet another way that Republicans are manipulating our electoral system. It's also yet another way that they're showing how stupid they think we are. They think they can run this okie-doke on 100 million voters over and over.
And like I said above, so far - they're right.
So enjoy your tax cuts, people - while the Repugs take away five times as much as you'll ever get from a tax cut, if you live to be 176.
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Oh, shut up!!
by Rich Miles
I guess my hiatus ends sooner than expected.
Interesting title to this piece, huh?
Anyway, the point of the title, and the point of this article, is that I am SICK TO EFFIN' DEATH of the rich bastards in this country whining about CLASS WAR!!
I mean, it's demonstrable that there is no class war in this country, because there are any rich people left. If there were a genuine class war going on in America, there would be dead rich people strewn all over hell and back.
But there aren't. More's the pity.
So anyway, here's the thing: rich people have been getting a free ride, or perhaps it would be better to call it a net-gaining ride, for decades now, and now that certain pundits are putting some rich people on the spot, and embarrassing the poor little lambs, that term keeps popping up: Class War. Class War. Class War.
But if it ever came to that, we poor people would lose, because we don't have the resources to buy the guns and hire the mercenaries. We'd be at a definite military disadvantage.
But then, we'd be much more pissed off. That counts for something. Doesn't it? We'd be much more motivated to off as many of the bastards as possible. Whereas hired soldiers wouldn't have such motivation, by and large
Anyway, yes - let me be clear on this point: there is indeed a cold class war being conducted in America today. Not a shooting war, of course, but a war nonetheless. Because rich people have been despicable shitbags for long enough. Yuppie scum. Robber barons. And the rest of us are just trying to get by. Literally.
I got nothing else to say here. I used to want to be rich. But not any longer. It would require me to become an asshole. Or more of one than I already am, anyway. I still want to have more money, but I wouldn't want to be rich.
So that's the class war for you in a nutshell. I'm sure books have been written on the topic, but that's the short version. Rich people are the most anti-democratic segment of this alleged democracy, and still they cry in their beer.
Rant over. For the moment.
I guess my hiatus ends sooner than expected.
Interesting title to this piece, huh?
Anyway, the point of the title, and the point of this article, is that I am SICK TO EFFIN' DEATH of the rich bastards in this country whining about CLASS WAR!!
I mean, it's demonstrable that there is no class war in this country, because there are any rich people left. If there were a genuine class war going on in America, there would be dead rich people strewn all over hell and back.
But there aren't. More's the pity.
So anyway, here's the thing: rich people have been getting a free ride, or perhaps it would be better to call it a net-gaining ride, for decades now, and now that certain pundits are putting some rich people on the spot, and embarrassing the poor little lambs, that term keeps popping up: Class War. Class War. Class War.
But if it ever came to that, we poor people would lose, because we don't have the resources to buy the guns and hire the mercenaries. We'd be at a definite military disadvantage.
But then, we'd be much more pissed off. That counts for something. Doesn't it? We'd be much more motivated to off as many of the bastards as possible. Whereas hired soldiers wouldn't have such motivation, by and large
Anyway, yes - let me be clear on this point: there is indeed a cold class war being conducted in America today. Not a shooting war, of course, but a war nonetheless. Because rich people have been despicable shitbags for long enough. Yuppie scum. Robber barons. And the rest of us are just trying to get by. Literally.
I got nothing else to say here. I used to want to be rich. But not any longer. It would require me to become an asshole. Or more of one than I already am, anyway. I still want to have more money, but I wouldn't want to be rich.
So that's the class war for you in a nutshell. I'm sure books have been written on the topic, but that's the short version. Rich people are the most anti-democratic segment of this alleged democracy, and still they cry in their beer.
Rant over. For the moment.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Buh-bye for now
Dear friends, I need a break. It's not like I was running a grueling schedule on this blog, but still, I simply need a break. So you will not see any new posts here for an indeterminate amount of time.
Thank you for your patience. I'll be back as soon as I can stand it.
Rich
Thank you for your patience. I'll be back as soon as I can stand it.
Rich
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Feeling kinda S.A.D.
by Rich Miles
Anyone who reads this blog even remotely regularly will notice that I haven't written much on it lately. There is a good reason for this: it's the weather.
I have been for a number of years now an acute sufferer of S.A.D., or Seasonal Affective Disorder. Which is, in short terms, a deep sense of melancholy that takes place in the worst of the winter. When sunlight is rare, and gray skies are the norm, and temperatures are too cold to allow for much outdoor activity, and generally, the otherwise pleasant activity of going outdoors doesn't help in perking up the spirits in the dead of winter.
It's a recognized and medically-documented syndrome, causing more than the occasional suicide, and while I've never tried to kill myself, there has been more than one occasion when I have been curious as to what it would be like to be dead. But I didn't do it, because if I think it's dark and cold now, I can't even imagine what it would be like to be buried 6 feet under in the dead of winter.
So anyway, cheery as all these thoughts may be, I have had to contend with them for at least the last 40 years or so. And it hasn't been a bundle of fun, I can tell you that for free.
But at any rate, my life has not, so far, turned out the way I hoped it would. I lack any meaningful work. I lack meaningful connections with other people. I feel like I have alienated an awful lot of people, though they've all been inadvertent. I've managed to drive off at least a half-dozen people who were once important to me, but who now want nothing whatever to do with me. All inadvertently. I really didn't mean to drive them off. But nonetheless, I have driven them away. Part of it was my brain disease. But part of it wasn't. Or at least not as far as I can tell.
But anyway, lest I sound even more self-pitying than I already do, I'll see if I can't come to some sort of point in this essay.
I think the point must be that one must have meaningful work in amongst all the other things we need to live. Air, food, a warm place to live out of the elements, friends, lovers perhaps, and -- meaningful work. What 'meaningful' means is a moving target, but -- each person knows what it means most of the time. Working in a plastic bottle-making factory, shifting cartons of empty bottles from one side of the factory to another -- that's not meaningful. Creating the 'Mona Lisa' -- that's probably pretty meaningful.
Doing nothing at all -- that's not even remotely meaningful.
So anyway. I tend to come out of the S.A.D. symptoms when the weather starts being consistently warm. And I am the first to admit that my variety of S.A.D. is by no means the worst there is. People really do kill themselves or others sometimes simply because the sky is overcast yet again today - for the 22nd day in a row.
But just because mine is not the worst variety doesn't mean that it's not bad. It is.
If you've had this happen to you, I recommend a visit to a psychiatrist. Sometimes medications can help the syndrome. Sometimes not, but just because not everyone can be cured doesn't mean you shouldn't seek medical help.
The upside is -- winter doesn't last forever.
Does it?
Anyone who reads this blog even remotely regularly will notice that I haven't written much on it lately. There is a good reason for this: it's the weather.
I have been for a number of years now an acute sufferer of S.A.D., or Seasonal Affective Disorder. Which is, in short terms, a deep sense of melancholy that takes place in the worst of the winter. When sunlight is rare, and gray skies are the norm, and temperatures are too cold to allow for much outdoor activity, and generally, the otherwise pleasant activity of going outdoors doesn't help in perking up the spirits in the dead of winter.
It's a recognized and medically-documented syndrome, causing more than the occasional suicide, and while I've never tried to kill myself, there has been more than one occasion when I have been curious as to what it would be like to be dead. But I didn't do it, because if I think it's dark and cold now, I can't even imagine what it would be like to be buried 6 feet under in the dead of winter.
So anyway, cheery as all these thoughts may be, I have had to contend with them for at least the last 40 years or so. And it hasn't been a bundle of fun, I can tell you that for free.
But at any rate, my life has not, so far, turned out the way I hoped it would. I lack any meaningful work. I lack meaningful connections with other people. I feel like I have alienated an awful lot of people, though they've all been inadvertent. I've managed to drive off at least a half-dozen people who were once important to me, but who now want nothing whatever to do with me. All inadvertently. I really didn't mean to drive them off. But nonetheless, I have driven them away. Part of it was my brain disease. But part of it wasn't. Or at least not as far as I can tell.
But anyway, lest I sound even more self-pitying than I already do, I'll see if I can't come to some sort of point in this essay.
I think the point must be that one must have meaningful work in amongst all the other things we need to live. Air, food, a warm place to live out of the elements, friends, lovers perhaps, and -- meaningful work. What 'meaningful' means is a moving target, but -- each person knows what it means most of the time. Working in a plastic bottle-making factory, shifting cartons of empty bottles from one side of the factory to another -- that's not meaningful. Creating the 'Mona Lisa' -- that's probably pretty meaningful.
Doing nothing at all -- that's not even remotely meaningful.
So anyway. I tend to come out of the S.A.D. symptoms when the weather starts being consistently warm. And I am the first to admit that my variety of S.A.D. is by no means the worst there is. People really do kill themselves or others sometimes simply because the sky is overcast yet again today - for the 22nd day in a row.
But just because mine is not the worst variety doesn't mean that it's not bad. It is.
If you've had this happen to you, I recommend a visit to a psychiatrist. Sometimes medications can help the syndrome. Sometimes not, but just because not everyone can be cured doesn't mean you shouldn't seek medical help.
The upside is -- winter doesn't last forever.
Does it?
Wednesday, February 02, 2011
Teabaggers' Mistakes
From my friend Trebonska, via email:
Questions for the "Tea Party": What took you so long to get angry?
You didn't get mad when the Supreme Court stopped a legal recount and appointed a President.
You didn't get mad when Dick Cheney allowed energy company officials to dictate energy policy and push us to invade Iraq.
You didn't get mad when a covert CIA operative got outed for political reasons.
You didn't get mad when the Patriot Act got passed.
You didn't get mad when we invaded a country that posed no threat to us and spent over 800 billion (and counting) on said war.
You didn't get mad when Bush borrowed more money from foreign sources than the previous 42 Presidents combined.
You didn't get mad when over 10 billion dollars in cash just disappeared in Iraq.
You didn't get mad when you found out we were torturing people.
You didn't get mad when Bush embraced trade and outsourcing policies that shipped 6 million American jobs out of the country.
You didn't get mad when the government was illegally wiretapping Americans.
You didn't get mad when we didn't catch Bin Laden.
You didn't get mad when Bush rang up 10 trillion dollars in combined budget and current account deficits.
You didn't get mad when you saw the horrible conditions at Walter Reed Army Hospital.
You didn't get mad when we let a major US city, New Orleans, drown.
You didn't get mad when we gave people who had more money than they could spend over a trillion dollars in taxbreaks..
You didn't get mad with the worst 8 years of job creation in several decades.
You didn't get mad when over 200,000 US citizens lost their lives because they had no health insurance.
You didn't get mad when lack of oversight and regulations from the Bush Administration caused US citizens to lose 12 trillion dollars in investments, retirement and home values.
No . . . You finally got mad when a black man was elected President and decided that people in America deserved the right to see a doctor if they are sick.. .
Questions for the "Tea Party": What took you so long to get angry?
You didn't get mad when the Supreme Court stopped a legal recount and appointed a President.
You didn't get mad when Dick Cheney allowed energy company officials to dictate energy policy and push us to invade Iraq.
You didn't get mad when a covert CIA operative got outed for political reasons.
You didn't get mad when the Patriot Act got passed.
You didn't get mad when we invaded a country that posed no threat to us and spent over 800 billion (and counting) on said war.
You didn't get mad when Bush borrowed more money from foreign sources than the previous 42 Presidents combined.
You didn't get mad when over 10 billion dollars in cash just disappeared in Iraq.
You didn't get mad when you found out we were torturing people.
You didn't get mad when Bush embraced trade and outsourcing policies that shipped 6 million American jobs out of the country.
You didn't get mad when the government was illegally wiretapping Americans.
You didn't get mad when we didn't catch Bin Laden.
You didn't get mad when Bush rang up 10 trillion dollars in combined budget and current account deficits.
You didn't get mad when you saw the horrible conditions at Walter Reed Army Hospital.
You didn't get mad when we let a major US city, New Orleans, drown.
You didn't get mad when we gave people who had more money than they could spend over a trillion dollars in taxbreaks..
You didn't get mad with the worst 8 years of job creation in several decades.
You didn't get mad when over 200,000 US citizens lost their lives because they had no health insurance.
You didn't get mad when lack of oversight and regulations from the Bush Administration caused US citizens to lose 12 trillion dollars in investments, retirement and home values.
No . . . You finally got mad when a black man was elected President and decided that people in America deserved the right to see a doctor if they are sick.. .
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