Who are the heroes?

Interesting that people have bought the story that Sen. John McCain is a hero because he was shot out of the sky. His behaviour in prison is remarkable.

He managed to destroy a fighter plane on the USS Forrestal aircraft carrier while going through a pre-flight checklist. He might have pushed the wrong button. His father was an admiral. I'm surprised that people trust this guy. The Wiki article makes claims that nobody was at fault, even though 134 people died and 161 more were injured. We are all at fault for this.

You're not a hero because you were shot out of the sky - that's an occupational hazard. 

The heroes were the pilots who refused to bomb civilians and took their punishment.

The power of children

A response to a Facebook post:

I was homeless twice before I was 18. It was a numbing experience; I had no power over the circumstances, and it is such a shame that this continues in the richest country in the world. 

We can kill anyone, anywhere, anytime, for any or no reason, but we blame our children for not choosing the right parents.

goddamn bureaucrats

Since Dad died, I've spent hundreds of hours dealing with his estate. He left no will - he didn't need one because he wasn't going to die.

Now I have a fucking idiot demanding fines and $8,000 in cash from my personal accounts because he knows more about California law than the lawyers we hired and the courts that approved our probate.

The problem is that this fucking idiot has power. He can mess with my life. This is just insane, and so damned much stress.

We spent over $6,000 trying to find our brother. That didn't work, but it was fine with the Commissioner of Accounts. I spent $600 and found him. We met at a truck stop in Rochelle, IL. The Commissioner fined me $200 for an "exception" and I can only guess that it was because he just wants to mess with our lawyer for some past annoyance. The only way to mess with the lawyer seems to be fucking with his clients.

Goddamn, I want this shit to stop.

Things that keep me alive

We had a fantastic time last night. It was such fun to see everybody in the place drop what they were doing and turn to listen; such fun to watch Jeff playing (ya gotta see his face when he's hitting it!); such fun to mess with Glenn by hanging my face over his guitar neck while he shouted the chords to me (he knew I didn't need them; good theater.); to watch Dan doing his fantastic guitar tags while singing the songs; so great to see Mary and Anna smiling as we played. Brother Steve showed up as we were loading the equipment to leave, but I got a big hug from him, and that was worth my paying for tickets for him.

Just grinning back and forth across the stage is such a charge. These are things that keep me alive.

Hamas didn't grow without water

We should look at the reasons that cause people to create the need to protect themselves from those they oppress. We are officially crazy if we just say that a people (Indian, Chinese, Thai) do not deserve a place on Earth. 

Hitler proved that you just can't have enough bullets to solve a problem, but he didn't learn that even after killing 25 million in Russia (The plan in Operation Barbarossa was to isolate NW Russia and starve everyone to death).

We're not paying attention.
 

Hamas is a reaction, not an evil original

The Palestinians had a homeland until they were declared less than human and occupying a land that some kind of god had given to the Israelis. They were expropriated and shoved into prison camps to die because they were not the "chosen" people. Golda Meir said, "there is no such thing as a Palestinian." The prisoners in Gaza are not even allowed to fish in the sea.

Israel, which has even gone so far as to murder American sailors (USS Liberty, 1967) is the number one recipient of foreign aid from the USA.

Why is anybody surprised that outfits like Hamas arise among such oppression?

When is Solstice?

It's too damn dark. I've been going through mind storms involving memories and feelings, just like I do every year when the light hides away.

I try to talk to people who have no time to spare, and don't quite like being given a list of other people to call.

I try to find something to keep me busy; keep my head outside.

I need light and people.

Damn it, when is Solstice?

Gratitude for those who keep me alive

Growing up among genius was something that I took for granted. I thought everybody had people like my parents, Eleanor Klak and Bill Savory, our roommates Sheldon Harnick and Calvin Lampley, and the parade of visitors to whom I was introduced (sometimes at 3 AM) on the weekends when Mom and Dad hosted parties and jazz jam sessions.

Sheldon wrote "Fiddler On The Roof" with Jerry Bock. Calvin was the producer for Miles Davis' "Kind Of Blue" on Columbia Records, and was one of the early black concert pianists who played in Carnegie Hall.

Mom played clarinet, and Dad played piano. An early memory was finding a round cast disc on the living room floor - it was to support the post of a bass violin.

I remember being introduced to Helen Ward one late night. I was struck by her beauty, and years later she became my step-mother. She was Benny Goodman's first vocalist, and the model for many of the jazz singers who followed her.

Writers for Sid Caesar's "Show Of Shows" would come by. Mel Kaminsky, later Mel Brooks, would act out the routines that were banned from the show under various self-censorship protocols. Such a thing for a five-year-old to witness, eh?

The parade seemed endless. Damn, I wish I had recordings. Damn, I wish everyone could have experiences like those.

More Magic

The Universe is magic, until we complete the study.

Presents

For Christmas, my friend gave out little wooden boxes that he made at his farm. He was not as good a carpenter as he was a farmer, but his love showed through when he handed them to me and his family and friends.

417

When I turn to look at the clock, I read "4:17" damned near every day. That's AM. That's also the last address from which we were evicted - 417 15 1/2 Avenue, Rock Island, Illinois.

It was the second time I became homeless, and in each occurrence I was powerless.

I had just turned 17, and had been working. When I came home, Mom was standing outside of our apartment. She told me she was going to live with her sister in California. I was to go see if I could rent something from her brother. I got a cot in a corner of his basement work shop. He pointedly said that he would not be a guardian or responsible for me in any way.

It was such a strange feeling to see all of our stuff sitting on the curb, and the neighbors picking through it without acknowledging us. I guessed that the first thing to go was a new vacuum cleaner that I had bought a couple of weeks earlier.

But, just standing there watching that turned me more numb than I had been in the previous nine years since Mom and Dad divorced.

So, how do we deal with abandonment and rejection? In my case, not very well. I still feel it; I still cry.

Damned Tests

Everybody should have access to all the education that they are capable of handling; vocational, professional, specialized, and for no charge to the student. The benefit is to society.

If you can't believe this would work, look at Finland, Denmark, and damn near any civilized country to see what happens when we teach people how to learn instead of how to take a damned test.

Another Song

It was wonderful today to hear from Dan, leader of our former band, with an update of his, our band mates' and friends' recent lives.

He has written another song - the first in three years, which I consider fantastic - it doesn't matter whether it's important or profound; it's an effort to live and create something of value to himself and others, and by doing so, give himself permission and energy.

As I've said, I collect personalities and remember them in detail and often very intensely, and Dan's is one of those whom I have been privileged to acquire. We spent years entertaining others and ourselves, and hope to continue.

Wow!

Among things I love to do is get people to say, "wow" and look outside themselves for more wonderful things. I can only think of our capability for searching and finding such amazing things around us, and just be so grateful that we are able to see and comprehend.