Category Archives: Blogs' Archive

Theresa May has announced her resignation as Prime Minister, effective June 7th.  This does not mean that there will be a general election.  The conservative party will choose someone to replace her, and from what we’ve seen of the conservative party, it will be somebody as worthless and horrible as May herself.
Brexit is still moving forward.  May, like Cameron before her, just doesn’t want to be around when it happens.  Like a dog that shits on the floor and runs away.
I am a bit surprised.  In America, a politician has to be caught fucking a sheep to be forced to resign, and sometimes not even then.
Merely doing something that does your country serious damage just to pander to your xenophobic, racist base wouldn’t be nearly enough.
Don’t get me wrong. I am happy she is resigning.  She is a horrible person, who is willing to screw millions just so her and her rich buddies won’t be forced to pay taxes, and the more of her ilk resign, the better of the world will be.
But I’m not optimistic it will make any real difference.

Here’s a little poem I wrote yesterday.  I want as many people as possible to read it:

In a world of competition

People jostle for position

with the pre-ordained condition
that we step on other people

It’s embedded very deeply

 

It is primitive and tribal

We see everyone as rivals
way back then, it was survival

Now, that instinct’s obsolete

Now, the planet is completely

 

Blanketed with human beings

who, of course, don’t all agree

So many different ways that we

perceive the world we’re living in

and that is where we must begin

 

The air we breathe, the atmosphere

the waters that once ran so clear

the rich, black dirt that every year

brings forth new grass, the Sun, the weather

These are things we have together

Yet, the rich own all the land

the very ground on which we stand

and everything is zoned and planned
The one per cent have made things so
and that is just the way things go

 

They use all the world for profit

only worth what they make off it

and they snicker and they scoff at

those who want to make it better

“You’re just jealous, you’re just bitter

 

Maybe you should just work harder

Maybe you should just be smarter”
as we struggle, and we barter
as we seek and as we strive

every day of our short lives

 

But every day the world keeps turning

There are embers that keep burning

There is hope that springs eternal
even in the darkest night

that everything will be all right

 

We’ll find methods and devices
to create a world that’s nice

a little bit of paradise
with windmills planted everywhere

and trees to cleanse the filthy air

All the homeless will be housed
and all the hungry will be fed
and, instead of endless war
there will be love and peace instead
and, as one, we’ll move ahead

Still, there will be those who try
to douse the flames, to tell us lies
because they know that when we rise
the world will have no further need
for all their pettiness and greed

 

Still, as long as we remember
we will fan that glowing ember

Till it is a raging flame

that rises high into the night
and leads us with its brilliant light

Rise like lions in defiance!
Rise like phoenixes and giants!
Rise, as one and show the world
that, this time, it’s the people’s turn
Rise, as one, and Feel the Bern

 

 

I went to a poetry reading at which no poetry was read, unless some people showed up after I left, which was about an hour after the scheduled start time, but it was kind of a pleasant evening in a low key way nonetheless.
I was 20 minutes late, and not a soul was there save the bartender and a friend.  I asked them if that was where the open mike was supposed to be and they said it was.  It was a cellar in a cafe in Malastrana which I found fairly easily and then realized I’d been to a reading there once before, about a year, maybe two years ago.  Which was quite well attended.
So, I walked back upstairs, thinking I maybe missed some people hanging out at front, or in the cafe upstairs, but saw no one I knew, so I went back down, ordered a coke, and waited.  3 old people came in, American tourists by the sound of it, but they were there for the reading, and also a bit surprised to see no one there.  Then a couple of other guys showed up, one of whom was the featured performer.
He got up and played guitar and sang for his audience of 5, and he wasn’t bad at all.  He had a nice, folksy vibe.  So, I listened to two or three songs, nobody else was arriving, so I left.  The piece I had prepared is kind of a political rant, and it just didn’t seem the time or place.  I’ll save it for the next one.

So, I stepped out, and it was kind of a damp, after the rain evening but it wasn’t actually raining, so I fired up a solo doobie and walked down to the river.  Right by the bank was a flock of swans, milling about and noisily slurping water from puddles,  and a whole gaggle of Japanese tourists.  Now, Japanese tourists always have their cameras out but here there was a tripod set up so some serious photography was being done, so I just hung back and enjoyed the view.  The swans, the people, the party boats going up and down the river, the lights from the restaurant across shimmering on the water.
It was a very Prague moment.

Of course, Bernie’s been touting free college for a while, and I’m all for that.  Knowledge is good, education is good, research is good.  Both as individuals and as a society, the more we know, the better off we will be.
So, I’m pleased that he’s released a detailed K-12 plan.  I’m not sure about all the details, though.  Oh, there are none I specifically disagree with.  Eliminating charter schools is a good thing.  I’m not against private schools, totally, but they should be privately funded.  Having public transportation doesn’t mean banning private cars, and universal health care doesn’t mean there can’t be private hospitals and health insurance.  But, if the public has to pay for private schools, then public schools will inevitably suffer.  Also, a $60,000 a year minimum wage for teachers sounds great, but I’m not sure that’s actually a federal issue.  I also agree with the right of teachers to unionize, and strike.
But, Bernie tends to see everything in terms of economics – which would not be a bad trait in a president, not at all.
The way I see it, the one thing that’s needed is more schools and more teachers, and assistant teachers.  If classroom size could be brought down to a dozen students, teachers would not only be able to control their classrooms, they would be able to get to know their students.  This means both that students get better instruction, and that teachers can spot specific personality problems.  They’d be able to spot those psychopathic serial killers when they’re still children.
Education, in more than one way, is a great investment in the future.

There are polls and there are polls.  There was the one about a week or so ago which showed Biden totally kicking ass.  Then somebody pointed out that they’d only asked people over fifty.  At least, in the lower age categories it showed n/a.  I figured even at that, it was shady, because I’m 65 and love Bernie, and I know a lot of other people my age do, too.  Then it turned out they’d only called land lines.
So, that was a fairly significant incidence of fraud on the part of the main stream media, and I’m certainly not inclined to believe any polls  since then, at least the ones that show Biden leading.
His crowds are small, sad small, he’s got a long history of bad policy, and nothing to get anybody excited.
On the other hand, I see a lot of internet polls with Bernie crushing the opposition, but these are polls that get passed around Bernie sites, and there are at least a couple of them every day.  Sometimes it backfires, and the Trump trolls will break through and flood the poll, or Andrew Yang’s people, who are all computer geeks and vote 10 times each.  I don’t hate Yang.  I think UBI is an idea worth talking about, but the amount he’s talking about amounts to a bribe, not a change in personal lifestyles or the overall economy.  Besides, I’m pretty sure his campaign has already peaked, so I’m real suspicious of polls that show him in the lead.
Anyway, Bernie marched the other day in a pro-choice march in Birmingham, Alabama.  Did any other candidate do that?