Category Archives: Blogs' Archive

They have been out of the spotlight for awhile, overshadowed by others, but the Palins are trying hard to hold onto their title as America’s  #1 dysfunctional family.  This happened a couple of days ago, but we don’t seem to be getting any new information, so I’m writing about it now.

Track Palin, the oldest son, allegedly (I love that word, allegedly.  It means innocent until proven guilty even though that’s the  thing he was reported doing, by his parents, that’s the thing he was arrested for, while he was in the act of doing it,and it’s so completely in  character that nobody  even doubts it for a second) broke into his parents home and beat up his dad.
Here’s the story, as I understand it:  Track, who was  probably doomed to a life of hillbilly antics the second his parents gave him that stupid name, called up his folks, Todd and former Alaska Governor and vice presidential candidate Sarah, and said “I’m coming over to get my truck,” and his Dad said “The  hell you are, you’re on drugs,” which, allegedly, was true, and he said “Yes, I am, and I’m going to kick your ass.”  Well, he (allegedly) followed through on his threat.  A window was broken, some furniture overturned, and then young Track was arrested.  Again.

Now, it may seem like small potatoes next to the Trump kids, who get their jollies by exploiting Chinese garment workers and shooting animals which  are on the endangered list, but it’s a kind of down home dysfunctional that  more Americans can relate to.  I mean, even if it were completely legal  and socially acceptable, most Americans just don’t have enough money to jet off to Africa for a dead elephant selfie, or to own their own fashion line.  But the Palins…hell yes, I’ve known families like  that.

Amtrak has  screwed  up  again.  At least 6 people (and when you see pictures of the wreckage, it’s hard to believe it was only 6) are dead, after a train went off the track and at least some wagons over a bridge  and  onto the freeway below, in Washington state.  This seems to happen to Amtrak a lot.  They are like the Aeroflot of trains.
The thing is, it shouldn’t be that hard.  It’s not like earthquakes, or volcanoes, which come from the earth and  there’s nothing human beings can do to stop them.  It’s not like wildfires, which, although some might be arson,  can conceivably be due  to natural causes.  There’s nothing natural about a train wreck, because there’s  nothing  natural about trains.  These are designed, built and operated by human beings.  Every time one of them  crashes, it’s because at  least one, and probably more, human beings fucked up.  Either the designers and engineers of the railroad, or a sleepy conductor or switch man

A bit more vigilance, maybe a few dollars more spent on upgrading the system, and accidents like  this would be rarer.  Japan, France, and other countries have  high speed trains zipping around all day long at speeds Amtrak can only dream of, and they don’t seem to have accidents like  this as often.  In most countries in the world, trains are a common, and safe way to  get around.
So, what can  America do?  First, start giving a  shit about rail transportation.

It’s too late and I  am too lazy and too uninspired to write a proper blog, but I did just get back from the December Spit it Out Poetry Reading at the inimitable A Maze in Tchaiovna, the place with the hidden doors to magic rooms.  It was an O.K. evening, not a very big crowd, but I was pleased with my own  contribution, which I  just finished this afternoon, and it’s a long one, so it will just have to suffice for a blog this evening, and here it is:

People, people
Little people
We are only
Little people
We are not as
Bold as badgers
We are not as
Fierce as lions
Swift as cheetahs
Sleek as sharks
We’re not as deep
And not as dark
We are not as
Elegant as
Eagles flying
Way up high
Who see all the
World below them
With their piercing
Eagle eyes
We are nowhere
Near as awesome
As the animals we see
On Animal Planet, on TV
We are disassociated
From the world in
Which we’re living
As we’re walking
All around it
We don’t often
Feel the grass, and
Dirt and sand
Beneath our feet
Most of us have
Never killed the
Animals we
Gladly eat
And we live in
Flats and house
Designated
By a number
And a street name
And a post code
Two can never
Be the same
We have a place
We have a name
We are units
In a great
Machine that is
Just getting started
And, although we
Have departed
From our roots, our
Primal being
That’s the price we
Had to pay
To be what we
Are today
We have thought, and
We have language
Clever sayings,
Jokes, and music
Books and films and
Television
We are at the culmination
Of thousands of years of
Civilization
We have so much
Information
Things will never
Be the same
In the ever
Changing game
At each stage of
Evolution
There are problems
And solutions
If we choose, then
We can be now
So much better
Than we were
Every peak
Becomes a platform
From which we can
See the future
See the ever
Changing future
Future of the
Human race
Across all time
Across all space
But if we want
To get that far
We must be better
Than we are

The CDC (Center for Disease Control) just got a directive from the Trump administration that they should not use the following 7 words: “diversity,” “fetus,” “transgender,” “vulnerable,” “entitlement,” “science-based” and “evidence-based.”
The  one  that worries me most on this list is science based.  What the hell is their beef with science?  Do they not use electric lights, and airplanes, and i phones and shit?  Anyway, they suggested that instead of science they use ‘science in connection with the values and wishes of the community’ or  some such verbiage.  Which is totally wrong.  Science doesn’t  give a rat’s ass about the ‘values and wishes’ of a community.  Science is science.

Another one I worry about is ‘evidence based.’  Are they trying to do to the legal system what they have done to science?

I can only wonder, what other words are going to have to be employed to  express these concepts.  Will fetuses be referred to henceforward as prenatal humanoids?  (I’m actually surprised that one’s on the quiz.  Republicans LOVE talking about fetuses.

Is diversity going to be replaced with ‘this and that?’

I love pie.  Apple pie, pumpkin pie, lemon meringue pie, coconut pie, pecan pie, really goopy, syrupy  pecan pie, cherry pie and blueberry pie.  I love meat pies, too.  When you break the pastry, thin as the ice  in  April, and underneath is all this steaming hot life energy, and, like a pizza, it is just the  right size and shape.  I even have tremendous appreciation for pie spelled  without  the final e, that Greek letter that symbolizes the most irrational  of  all  irrational numbers, which we  need to calculate the area of a circle, but whose lack of completion means we  can  never do that with perfect  accuracy, it’s like one of the mysteries of the universe, a timeless paradox.

But, I do not like Ajit Pai.  He is giving pie a bad name.  Net only does he reverse Net Neutrality (of course, there will still be challenges and court battles, but he certainly seems to have gotten away with it in the short term) but he’s made a video about  it, just to rub our noses in  it.  Like “You’ll  still be able to post pictures of kittens and stuff,” when he knows as well as we do that people are a lot more worried about controversial content being blocked, sneaky charges  being added, advertising being prioritized over information, and a general slowing  down in the ability to spread  new information and  ideas.
And he does it all  with a smirk and some silly  costumes and internet graphics.  Smarmiest prick since Martin Shkreli, and that’s saying a lot.