Cindy Sheehan

Ms. Sheehan has received the Buzzflash "Wings of Justice" award for her unstinting efforts to make King George look in the mirror and own up to his lies and propaganda that has killed many, many people. So far, she will admit that hers may be a futile effort. But she will not stop and she will not be used by either war side to further agendas that are not her own or less than honest. She is a true patriot (even though I hate that word) and American who deserves our respect even if we don't agree with her. She is Democracy in action. She personifies what it means to be American and how much it can hurt.

I Hab A Dode

just want to do a quick shout out to vicks vaporub. i have lived on this stuff anytime i've had a cold for all of my life. it is a healing elixir. congested chest, nose? dab it, smear it, rub it. all good.
but this time around my summer cold has been acting in a very funny fashion. i first felt the symptoms on the day of lecram's last meat burning. i thought it was allergies at first, but eventually i had to give in and admit that i was sick. i tried the special lecram home remedy (turn the shower on as hot as you can stand it, stick your butt in it for as long as you can stand it, then apply vicks behind the ears). that seemed to work and i felt i was on my way to kicking this cold in record time (two days). unfortunately, it returned two days after that with more congestion and a mucus buffet. being a smoker i am used to these things taking their time. but this morning at 5 i was awakened by a most godawful pain...in my ear. my throat was raw and my sinuses were blocked (i assume the raw throat was from snoring due to the sinus thingy and not due to last night's nocturnal admissions), but the weirdest part was that my left ear was totally clogged. i couldn't hear anything. and it hurt like hell. after half an hour of tossing and turning, hoping it would go away, i moved to the couch in order to get some more sleep while sitting up. eventually, the pain subsided to something liveable. i went into work this morning and found that two other people have had this cold and experienced the same ear problem. now, that's somewhat of a relief, because i thought i was going deaf. i seriously thought i had a problem beyond the cold. well, the ear has never popped today. it has been stuffed up all day long. the pain has come and gone and come again. i noticed that it would begin to hurt more when i needed to blow my nose, so it is definately connected to my sinuses...
but just now i decided to put some more vicks behind my ears to see if any change would occur and-lo and behold- it seems to be easing the pressure somewhat. not completely, but some and anything is welcome.
so, snaps to vick vaporub, which sits in an exalted place in the medicine cabinet right next to that wonder drug sayman's salve. this salve can cure cancer, i swear to god. i have yet to try it on a burn, cut, infection, fungus, ingrown toenail, skin problem, heat rash, jock itch, surface hemorrhoids or athlete's foot and not had complete satisfaction. you won't find it at your local store (though they might order it for you), but it used to be a stock item in all pharmacies and drug stores. they even came out with a soap that was supposed to be dermatologically stupendous and it disappeared as well.
so, if you are tired of looking for the next great cure for common maladies, then stop and go back in time to the two curatives that stand the test of time.
by the way, anyone have special home remedies for colds that they absolutely swear by? i can riff all day on the benefits of theraflu, but i'm asking about the remedies that your ma and pa used on you and weren't bought in a package from a store. anyone?

Friday Night Fights

Well, it's Friday night once again. THE night of the week where we're all too tired to do anything but dream of tomorrow. Because tomorrow is the stuff of dreams. Saturday. Freedom. Liberation from the sins of the workweek. The one true anarchical moment in our sea of troubled discipline. So, tonight I choose for my loud music something by the Pogues. If I must bow to my masters for 5 days a week and spend Sunday trying not to think about the doom looming then, dammit, for 45 minutes tonight I will groove to a band and frontman that encompass enough anger, angst, pathos and downright fantastic talent to fling my soul into a whirling dervish of I don't give a flying monkeyfuck who calls the cops as long as I can piss in my front yard and wiggle my wiener in spiraling arcs of daredevil ne'er-do-well while I swig beer from a sippy cup and think about taping condoms to the front door of the neighboring Catholics. Tomorrow I'll awake and quite possibly regret some (if not all) of tonight's nocturnal admissions. But that's tomorrow. Tomorrow, the day of infinity and brazen nonchalance. When that money in my pocket finally finds a match. When I can't stands it no longer and I just gotta dance.
But it's still Friday. And I look at the clock and see that it's what I would consider late on any other night of the week, because my brain is still twisted around that godawful maypole called Work. I know tomorrow is free even should I decide to go to work. It's still free, because everything I do tomorrow is my choice. No one else's. I can choose to lie on my couch and watch sports on television all afternoon. I can garden. I can hit Big Lots, all of the 99 cent stores. I can take a drive to the mountains. I can scrape the black scum out of my toilet. I can quit smoking. I can quit drinking. I can learn to be more tolerant of my friends. I can become a serial killer. Write the next great haiku. Install a despot who is sensitive to my need for semi-ripe papayas, Bombay Toast and the fertile plains of Virginia. Stare at a spiderweb up in the corner for thirty minutes wondering where the broom is. Get emotionally involved with a tomato while I slice it to death. All good.
So, you know what I've decided to do now that I'm done? I've decided...to choose. I choose all of them and I'll find out tomorrow how many I have time to actually do.

HNT Post Mortem (I'm very late)

i'm thinking of braiding my nipple hair, whaddya think? man boob need a shave? or should i let it go rasta?

Stems and Seeds

These are some quotes sent to me by friends concerning DRUGS and DRUG USE. See if you can figure out who said them (or is supposed to have since the scribe was probably as high as the speaker/writer).

* The war on drugs to me is absolutely phony; it's so obviously phony, ok? It's a war against our civil rights, that's all it is. They're using it to make us afraid to go out at night, afraid of each other, so that we lock ourselves in our homes and they get suspending our rights one by one.

* Why is pot against the law? It wouldn't be because anyone can grow it, and therefore you can't make a profit off it, would it?

* Your denial is beneath you, and thanks to the use of hallucinogenic drugs, I see through you.

* Today, a young man on acid realized that all matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration. That we are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively. There is no such thing as death, life is only a dream and we're the imagination of ourselves. Here's Tom with the weather.

* Watching television is like taking black spray paint to your third eye.

* I have never seen two people on pot get in a fight because it is fucking IMPOSSIBLE. "Hey, buddy!" "Hey, what?" "Ummmmmmm...." End of argument.

* You see, I think drugs have done some good things for us. I really do. And If you don't believe drugs have done good things for us, do me a favor. Go home tonight take all your albums, all your tapes and all your CDs and burn them. 'Cause You know what the musicians that made all that great music that's enhanced your lives throughout the years? RrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrEAL fucking high on drugs... The Beatles were so fucking high they let Ringo sing a few songs.

* Here is my final point. About drugs, about alcohol, about pornography and smoking and everything else. What business is it of yours what I do, read, buy, see, say, think, who I fuck, what I take into my body - as long as I do not harm another human being on this planet?

* I believe that God left certain drugs growing naturally upon our planet to help speed up and facilitate our evolution. OK, not the most popular idea ever expressed. Either that or you're all real high and agreeing with me in the only way you can right now. (Starts blinking)

* They lie about marijuana. Tell you pot-smoking makes you unmotivated. Lie! When you're high, you can do everything you normally do, just as well. You just realize that it's not worth the fucking effort. There is a difference.

* Christianity has a built-in defense system: anything that questions a belief, no matter how logical the argument is, is the work of Satan by the very fact that it makes you question a belief. It's a very interesting defense mechanism and the only way to get by it -- and believe me, I was raised Southern Baptist -- is to take massive amounts of mushrooms, sit in a field, and just go, "Show me."

Cindy Sheehan

But the most promising avenue of attack is likely to be the one sketched out by Fox News Channel eminence Bill O’Reilly on Aug. 9, when he declared that Cindy Sheehan bears some responsibility for “other American families who have lost sons and daughters in Iraq who feel that this kind of behavior borders on treasonous.”

Cindy Sheehan arrived at the "Western White House" pretty much alone and vowed to stay there alone until our cowardly "president" came out to parlay. Since then, she has been joined by a handful of likeminded demonstrators. The media picked up on it immediately and turned it into the circus it is today. Sheehan did not start this. Sheehan was not duped by the liberal left wing or al-quaeda. She has been outspoken about the war for a long time. Now, people like Bill O'Reilly are slamming her for taking a stand. She bears responsibility for how others view her? I think not. Those who think she is doing harm to our nation can make their own stand. They can speak out on their own, for themselves. They can greet the press with placards and ribbons and pictures of Terri Schiavo and call themselves "grieving parents for war" and they would be well within their rights. And not one pundit would call them to task. Not one pundit would level charges of treason at their black-creped doorsteps. But let a mother take her grief and her beliefs to the streets in public and challenge our "president" to a High Noon meeting...well, that's just not American. In fact, it's actually more...Chinese. Remember the man who stopped an entire caravan of tanks shortly after the Tianamen Square massacre merely because he could no longer turn a blind eye to the brutal ways of his government? Remember how that became an international symbol for standing up to repressive regimes and dictatorships? How the common person could effect even a tiny bit of change? And how we all should learn a lesson from his naked bravery? How is Sheehan any different? She wants simple answers to simple questions. Methinks even Bush could handle this one without a secret microphone pack under his coat. He can disagree with her beliefs honestly and come away clean. Sheehan would probably thank him for his time and answers even if they don't sound like what she would hope for. But he doesn't. Instead, he hides on his ranch. He rides his bike and tells the press that Americans want a president who is physically fit (color me nostalgic, but I prefer one who is mentally fit). So, now appearing physically fit is the requirement for that job? That is the overriding qualification? Well then, do I have a Governor for you.
But that's getting away from the point. And the point is: what is Cindy Sheehan doing that makes her appear treasonous? What has she said that can be construed by anyone other than right wingers as anti-American or pro-Taliban or -al quaeda? She is horrified by this war and its human cost. She is horrified by the claims for war that have all been demolished by facts. She is horrified by the fact that neither Bush nor any official in his inner circle are willing to speak honestly about their mistakes and misjudgements. She is horrified that her son may have died because of lies. She is asking for clarification. She is asking for a moment of sanity. She is asking for help with the closure she can't yet find. She is grieving. She is, also, being divorced by her husband who is grieving as well. Do you think this is easy for her? Evidently, people like O'Reilly do. It must be easy, because in the world of the right wingers and those who just want reality to go away being against the war takes no courage. It takes no moral fiber. It takes no strength. It only takes a coward and a traitor and a liberal press.
Cindy Sheehan is no coward. She is no traitor. The only thing she is not is a sheep. And there is no liberal press following her around, eating up her every word. There is only a press that, like vultures, descend on the dead or dying in order to feast. Like Bill O'Reilly. The only thing that separates O'Reilly from the mainstream press is that he has no interest in the truth behind the news. He has self-interest and nothing else. The regular press will, at the least, eventually get it right. Even, though, it's often too late to fix the damage.
I just wonder what the White House will dream up next in order to harm Sheehan in the eyes of the public. Bush's popularity is as low as it can reasonably get. Good thing for him he can't run for another term. But Sheehan can continue for as long as it takes and I will support her and those like her who choose to stand as individuals and question those who are supposed to serve us.
We are the owners of this country, not the temps we vote into place.

Be Sheared And Baa Not

From E.L. Doctorow on September 9, 2004 comes this very, very (in my mind) accurate depiction of what we, as Americans, have allowed our country to become. Each of has a choice: to stand up and speak out against repression, facism, censorship, the stifling of dissent, corporate jingoism clothed in patriotism, the furtherance of the elite at the expense of the commoner...or we can be sheep who think it's easier and safer to just go with the flow, be sheared and baa not. It is the individual's choice and we all know which is the easier path. But, for my money, the easier path is the more dangerous of the two and more cowardly. It is the individual who effects change, just as it is the group who usually takes that change and turns it into sponsor dollars. But it is the sheep who baa not that allow our leaders to do what they want willnilly without having to answer to choruses of boos. We stood up once before this war began and shouted out "NO!" in one loud, common voice that resonated and was mirrored across the world. Since then, we as a people have done nothing but watch our children die in a vainglorious effort by megalomaniacs to ensure their own power into the next generation. They don't care about us. They never did. Many of the parents of those in power right now were once affiliated with the Communist party. After that, they became New Deal Democrats under Kennedy. Disillusioned by that, they became or trained their children to become what we now brand "neo-cons". They have no roots, history, culture or true experience in commitment to anything. They change like the wind if their politics blow south. They will do anything, say anything in order to regain power, because that is all they are about. And the tragedy of it all is that they make those morons who reside in the House and Senate look like saints in comparison.

"But the cry of protest was the appalled understanding of millions of people that America was ceding its role as the last best hope of mankind. It was their perception that the classic archetype of democracy was morphing into a rogue nation. The greatest democratic republic in history was turning its back on the future, using its extraordinary power and standing not to advance the ideal of a concordance of civilizations but to endorse the kind of tribal combat that originated with the Neanderthals, a people, now extinct, who could imagine ensuring their survival by no other means than pre-emptive war."

Esprit de Corpse

My great friend Generik sent me this article, which is about as juvenile as my previous post about the jumper. I hope you like it...actually, it'd be funnier if you didn't:
"I was at the Reagan Presidential Library in February of this year," he told WND. "'Dutch' was my commander in chief. I have personal interest in getting this individual and trying to protect the desecration of presidential graves against First Amendment rights."
To be honest, as soon as I stop laughing I'll try to figure out where the "rights" part plays a factor. Until then, bwahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!
And when I die I will encourage everyone to do whatever they want on my grave (in fact, let me know what you think of). Sex would be awesome, spilling beer (a lot of beer) would be even better. Desecration? You could dig me up, prance my skeleton around in girlie undies, use my skull for an ashtray and I'd still give you a call the next weekend.