Communication.
I should have majored in communication.
If the most important thing in life is relationships,
than the next most important thing would be,
communication.
I don’t communicate very well.
I find myself signing on to little battles,
when quite frankly, I don’t even like to fight.
Even if I did, these little battles are so piss-ant,
so small,
even if I won, it wouldn’t mean a hill of beans.
And they eat up my time
which is to say, the stuff of life.
They eat up my life.
As does all strife, and friction.
The engine wears out because of friction.
I don’t want to fight.
I want to live and love and laugh.
Not all the time,
but most of the time.
I can’t seem to get that across.
As time slips to loss.
And the pounding pummels my head.
In a moment we’ll all be dead.
Let’s don’t fight.
Forgive me now my trespasses,
and if ye owe me any, then I forgive thee.
Would that I could communicate
and lay my burdens down
and watch the sunsets with wonder
with someone like__________. hint: Starts with a J.
I’ve given this considerable thought. As I guess most people have. But the word Welfare implies that there is an impartation of benefit. See definition:
wel·fare/ˈwɛlˌfɛər/
–noun 1.the good fortune, health, happiness, prosperity, etc., of a person, group, or organization; well-being: to look after a child’s welfare; the physical or moral welfare of society.
The Federal Government has authority to “promote the general wefare”. It is one of the few enumerated, or counted, powers granted to The Federal Government by The US Constitution. The Food Stamps Program is suppose to be about “welfare”. It is suppose to be about nutrition, right? Well, common sense and casual observation tells me that we are helping to create a BUNCH of Juvenile Diabetics, this is far from beneficial.
When I go to the grocery store, especially when I go towards the first of the month, I see a BUNCH of BIG women with BIG children pushing grocery carts loaded with sugary “treats” and BIG loads of FAT Food. I kind of feel like I am an accomplish to suicide because I know that, in many cases, I contributed to the fund from which that basket is paid. Mark my words, Diabetes is a methodical, debilitating, and often expensive killer. Very expensive when you consider the “welfare” of the poor child who is an innocent victim of other people’s ignorance. I believe that a major epidemic is lurking, just around the corner. It saddens me. Reminds me of the maxim: The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
Every human being on this planet, not just Presidents, deserves dignity and respect by virtue of the fact that they have been born. It is a First Principle- ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL. You don’t have to agree with everybody. How foolish would that be? And you are not in a position to pick and choose to whom you would give respect, for you, like all of us, are a human too. And humans are flawed. We are all flawed. Some more than others, but flawed never the less. Therefore, Respect All and Live.
I saw Jesus today
I was turning right on High Street
It is right past Rock Street
which is just past Battery
(I wonder why we don’t have an Assault Street)
But I was going to say
I saw Jesus today.
He was right there in the sky.
Two big tall billowing clouds had parted
and the Sun was shining through
The Son was right there in the middle
I wished I had had a camera
He was standing there with his out stretched arms
his beard and robe were perfect.
I imagined that I heard him say:
“Come unto me all ye that labor
and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.”
That sounded good.
I could use some rest.
But I had errands to run . . .
I had to get to Sam’s and buy some plates
and Orange Juice and biscuits and things.
I headed right on High
and merged onto I-630.
I looked into my rearview mirror
the clouds parted and He was gone.
We need an amendment to the U.S. Constition.
Not to change it, I think, but to clarify what it already says.
The Founding Fathers were very clear
about who has the power to Declare Wa.
That power is fully vested in The U.S. Congress.
The Congress should not be able to abdicate that responsibility
and bequeath it to The President as if it were a gift.
The President has the responsibility to execute, or prosecute, a war.
The President is, at all times, Commander-in-Chief.
Congress alone has the capacity to: Declare War.
The President can not, legally, Declare War any more than he
can judge a law. It isn’t within the perimeters of his or her office.
And Congress should not be able to toss that responsibility
like a hot potato to The President any more than The Judiciary
can abdicate responsibility for interpreting laws.
It was reasonably determined that it should take an Act of Congress
for the United Stated of America to be muddied by the awful
necessity of War. It was a strategic, vital, element of what we
call Checks and Balances. It would require a Group of Men,
rather than One Man to Declare War. This was one of the clear
lines of delineation from England and King George. Without
that Declaration, it could be reasonable argued that there
should be no engagement. It should be illegal, I think, for the
United States to be involved in a war which has not been
declared by the U.S.Congress, with one exception, Imminent Treat.
In 1973, in an attempt to clarify this very issue, for The Constitution is specific,
Congress passed “The War Powers Resolution” which did give The President
the temporary Authority to commit troops temporarily under “specific” conditions
of “imminent’ threat and only for a very brief period, not exceeding 60 days, but granting
another thirty days if The President ”certifies to the Congress in writing that unavoidable military necessity respecting the safety of United States ArmedForces requires the continued use of such forces in the course of bringing about the prompt removal of such forces.”
For further illumination read The U.S. Constitution; Article
One, Section Eight.
The Federalist Papers number Sixty-Nine and number Twenty-Four.
The Joint Resolution Concerning the War Power of Congress and the President of 1973.
I feel strongly about this.
No single person should have the prerogative, nor responsibility
of putting our troops in harms way.
But if We, As a People, deliberately reason otherwise, than
we should change The U.S. Constitution, with an Amendment.
That is what it was to me.
Art
Lives scrapped out
with a dull knife.
There along the river’s bank.
With scrabbles of rubble
and pieces of fabric
wadded up
to make a pillow.
Artist.
“You’re an artist”, I said.
All of this
The river
The pillow
You
This is Art.
His eyes welled up like the river
that boiled like soiled blood.
“Fuck You Man!
This ain’t no goddamned Art.
This is me!
And this shit is hard.
Sit in your goddamned self
and call this . . . Art?
Fuck you man.
And your art-shit self.”
I’ve been spending my nights with you
the late night hours
the early morning hours too.
Just last night
we were along the beach.
Alone, there along the beach.
You were well within my reach
as we lay there in the sand.
The soft moonlight
and the salty mist
the rhythm of the tide
the rhythm of you and I.
Just as my hand touched you
I woke up
to this dirty room
the smell of cigarettes
empty cans
the radio playing some sad love song.
I’ve been spending my nights with you
the late hours
and the early morning hours too.
I’ve been spending my time with you
I’ve nothing better to do.
She sported two black eyes
like prized tattoos.
Hit me again she said.
So I hit her hard across the face
with the back of my hand
careful not to hurt my knuckles
for I needed my hands to earn my living
and I still needed to put two sons through college.
Her head went back and blood splattered
through the air in slow motion.
A strange laughter escaped her lips.
She looked to be intoxicated.
Come on big boy, hit me like you mean it.
Don’t hold back.
Don’t worry about them pretty boy hands.
Hit me like this.
I didn’t see it coming.
She slapped me hard across my face.
As a reflex, I hit her full fisted, as hard as I could.
Her head snapped back.
I heard bones crack.
I woke up startled to the phone ringing.
The ceiling fan spinning.
Hello, I said.
It was her.
What are you doing? Still asleep?
No, not now I said.
I made you some coffee.
It is nice and strong.
Come get you some.
I told her I’d be right over.
I threw on some clothes
hopped in the car
and headed towards her flat.
Wondering what it all meant.
If anything.
If
by mixing our love
Yours
with Mine
We find the elixir
That
Makes
Our hearts beat quicker
And
Time slips through our hands
At a faster pace
And
We part this world much sooner
Still I’d say: let’s drink!
But
If my Love brings you sadness
And I disappoint
And tears mare your lovely face
I’d rather slumber
In my own dark grave
A lone
Than to know that I brought you sorrow.
Time is Stagnant. Fixed at the eternal now. It appears to move because we move through it. The Grand Illusion is the passage of time. All that exist is the NOW and it is eternal, and complete, I tried to explain all of this to my banker but he couldn’t quite grasp it. He said he wanted his #@€¥@ money back. And he wanted it, past tense, NOW! Poor Soul.
