November 12, 2008 archive

The Weapon of Young Gods #38: Crushing Heads

One time a few years ago I heard some religious people talking about how faith is something that happens when you give up control, when you stop actively trying to affect things, because as they saw it, 1) God controls everything, so why fight that, and 2) it felt so much better to not have to worry about that stuff anyway, right? Even Lisa mumbled irresponsible shit like that from time to time when we were wandering around Chico earlier this year. She spat it out like it was something she wanted to believe but couldn’t quite accept. That made sense from her-she’d had twelve-step mall-harvest Christianity shoveled down her throat so much in her original rehab stint that it was no surprise she’d reflexively spew it back out-but it didn’t make her any less irritating than when she was high.

I was prepared for it by then, though. I hadn’t really understood that silly “let go and let God’ hooey until I flew in a plane for the first time when I was thirteen; when that ten-ton metal death-ship took off, I knew all that separated me from molecular disintegration and fiery doom was the cumulative wisdom of a very mortal pilot up in the cockpit. The violent whims of jealous and vengeful deities never figured into that realization, but I appreciated the metaphor. Well, appreciated it without wanting anything to do with it-I’ll take care of whatever I can control, thanks very much, and God can be in charge of everything else if that makes God happy.

Previous Episode and Previous Pertinent Episode

The Music You Will Never Hear

Tonight, there is a music that you will never hear, there is a joy that you will never experience, there is a young man, that will never grow, there is a void in the hearts of those who knew him.

The circumstances of his life, to me, are truly unknown. I have heard stories but who knows what is fact and what is fiction.  I do know that his father lived on one coast and his mother on another and his decision to align with one over the other rendered him homeless and that is how he came into our lives.

When we first met Zane, he was a boy trying to be a man. He thought drinking and brawling would make him tough, macho, manly. He was just 15. Why I ever allowed him in my house I will never know.  But like a stray kitten, my daughter brought him to us, and we could not resist. And then, we got to know him and saw beyond the arrogance and over confidence of youth.

Zane was our daughter’s friend.  She met him at the square, he was playing “Folsom Prison Blues” and she was intrigued and enamored by his personality and talent. And for all his faults, and there were many, he was a good kid. His first visit to our house Zane asked my husband if he could play his Martin.  The response to this request from any of our children’s other friends had always been a resounding “No, end of story, do not ever ask again.” This HD-28 was “the mistress,” no one else could touch her.  But this night, the answer was yes. I will never know why, but I am forever grateful it was.

His talent was immense. Zane had only been playing for six months, but it was there, it was palpable, you could feel his gift.  The kid had “it.”  And then he left. Moving to the other coast, we did not see him for months.  In the time he was gone, we had many demons in our own life to deal with. Demons no parent, no person wants to face. Our daughter was a heroin addict. But with the grace of the gods and all things good, she was strong and with help, she overcame it, and to this day, is clean.

Soon after her recovery, Zane came back to us. His mother did not want him, nor did his father. He lived with us.  During the day, Zane was our son, pick up this, do that, come on dude, get it together. At night, when we were asleep, he spent hours on the internet searching for tablature and practicing songs, practicing the craft that would make him famous someday. This led to conversations where we would sit and joke how someday Zane would come back after he had his first recording contract, what a celebration we would have!  He had the talent, it could have been, it wasn’t just a pipe dream.

Finally the day came that he had to leave. My husband, fellow musician, took money from our savings and bought Zane a guitar, a tool of survival, something to help him make his way. The look of pride on Zane’s face when he realized it was his, with no preconditions, with no stings attached, will forever be with me. We loaded up his things and I when I dropped him off he was proud and ready to face whatever came his way.

And then he was gone again. We didn’t hear from him. There were sporadic messages to our daughter.  “I’m back in town.”  “I’m in rehab.” “I’m clean,  please talk to me.” But our daughter, savvy beyond her 18 years, knew he was not. To her ultimate regret, yet to her ultimate survival, she told him if you are not clean, if you are still using, do not talk to me. And he didn’t.  And last week Zane left this world, a needle in his arm. I pray it was for a better place, because this kid truly deserves it.

By chance, the day after we learned of Zane’s death I found this story on Crooks and Liars.  Serendipity or Kismet. A cause I will support.  I think I will adopt a tree, or two, or three, for Zane.  For a young man who fought his demons and lost.  And I would encourage anyone who has experienced the hell of addiction or lost someone to addiction, to support this cause. If nothing else, do it for Zane. Even with his flaws, he was a wonderful soul and I will miss him.

The pomegranate. It is a beautiful, healing plant, a plant that symbolizes life, especially for Zane and anyone else in his dire circumstances.

375px-Illustration_Punica_granatum2

And so forever there is a music that you will never hear and there is a joy that you will never experience.  There is a young man, that will never grow, because he has died and left a hole in the hearts of the few too many people who knew him.

Tonight he lies on a cold slab in a room I never want to see. And his fingers are stiff, never able to caress the music from a guitar. And his voice is silent, you will never hear the beauty in his songs or experience his heartfelt emotions. And the world is a little less special.  And I truly miss him.

With love, to Zane.

Anti-Veteran Chambliss also Energy Dumb …

For the politically aware, on a Veteran’s Day it is hard not to consider Saxby Chambliss’ shameful attacks on Max Cleland six year’s ago. Cleland. Winner of the Silver Star and the Bronze Star, Cleland served with great distinction in Vietnam and in our United States Senate. When running for re-election in 2002, Republican Saxby Chambliss attacked Senator Cleland with ads using the picture of Osama Bin Laden to attack the patriotism of a war hero who left three limbs on the battle field.   Even John McCain found this to be too much:

“I’d never seen anything like that ad. Putting pictures of Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden next to the picture of a man who left three limbs on the battlefield — it’s worse than disgraceful. It’s reprehensible.”

— Sen. John McCain, quoted by CNN, on the campaign ads used by Saxby Chambliss (R) against Sen. Max Cleland (D-GA) in the 2002 U.S. Senate race.

Note that ever-so noble John is planning to campaign for Saxby in the coming weeks even as Saxby has been just as disgraceful this time around.  Again, draft-dodging Saxby is facing a Vietnam veteran in an election. And, this Veterans’ Day, you have the opportunity do it for Max and send Saxby back to Georgia for good.  

While we should remember this disgraceful attack, we should not ignore the implications of that shameful campaign on national policy over the past six years with six years of blind and whole-hearted support for the Bush-Cheney Administration.  While no one would claim Max as the nation’s greatest environmentalist, Saxby Chambliss has consistently turned to the Energy Dumb side of the equation over the past six years, whether we look to environmental votes or embracing of the shameful truthiness of “Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay [maybe a Penny] Less [about 20 years from now]”.  

One measure of Saxby when it comes to Energy and the Environment: the League of Conservation Voters (LCV) rates him a zero. Perhaps that is just the hippy radicals and we should look to his fellow Republicans for perspective: Chambliss’ rating from the Republicans for Environmental Protection (an oxymoronic name, isn’t it?).  For 2007, a score of 14 out of 100.  At least that was an improvement, as his 2005-2007 average:  a 6 of 100.  Hmmmm ….

And, Georgia voters face an opportunity to redress the wrongs that Chambliss made against Cleland and has done against them and the nation. On December 6th, there will be a runoff between Chambliss and Jim Martin.  When it comes to sensible energy policies, Jim Martin is unlikely to rate a 0 or, with grading on a curve, a 6.  He sees how moving toward a sensible energy policy is connected to improving our environmental situation and our economic situation.  

Anti-Veteran Chambliss also Energy Dumb …

For the politically aware, on a Veteran’s Day it is hard not to consider Saxby Chambliss’ shameful attacks on Max Cleland six year’s ago. Cleland. Winner of the Silver Star and the Bronze Star, Cleland served with great distinction in Vietnam and in our United States Senate. When running for re-election in 2002, Republican Saxby Chambliss attacked Senator Cleland with ads using the picture of Osama Bin Laden to attack the patriotism of a war hero who left three limbs on the battle field.   Even John McCain found this to be too much:

“I’d never seen anything like that ad. Putting pictures of Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden next to the picture of a man who left three limbs on the battlefield — it’s worse than disgraceful. It’s reprehensible.”

— Sen. John McCain, quoted by CNN, on the campaign ads used by Saxby Chambliss (R) against Sen. Max Cleland (D-GA) in the 2002 U.S. Senate race.

Note that ever-so noble John is planning to campaign for Saxby in the coming weeks even as Saxby has been just as disgraceful this time around.  Again, draft-dodging Saxby is facing a Vietnam veteran in an election. And, this Veterans’ Day, you have the opportunity do it for Max and send Saxby back to Georgia for good.  

While we should remember this disgraceful attack, we should not ignore the implications of that shameful campaign on national policy over the past six years with six years of blind and whole-hearted support for the Bush-Cheney Administration.  While no one would claim Max as the nation’s greatest environmentalist, Saxby Chambliss has consistently turned to the Energy Dumb side of the equation over the past six years, whether we look to environmental votes or embracing of the shameful truthiness of “Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay [maybe a Penny] Less [about 20 years from now]”.  

One measure of Saxby when it comes to Energy and the Environment: the League of Conservation Voters (LCV) rates him a zero. Perhaps that is just the hippy radicals and we should look to his fellow Republicans for perspective: Chambliss’ rating from the Republicans for Environmental Protection (an oxymoronic name, isn’t it?).  For 2007, a score of 14 out of 100.  At least that was an improvement, as his 2005-2007 average:  a 6 of 100.  Hmmmm ….

And, Georgia voters face an opportunity to redress the wrongs that Chambliss made against Cleland and has done against them and the nation. On December 6th, there will be a runoff between Chambliss and Jim Martin.  When it comes to sensible energy policies, Jim Martin is unlikely to rate a 0 or, with grading on a curve, a 6.  He sees how moving toward a sensible energy policy is connected to improving our environmental situation and our economic situation.  

Dialogue Is Our Friend, Mr. Kashkari!

(h/t Huffington Post)

I hate to link to The New York Post but oh well.

To see Neel Kashkari field questions from a crowded room, one might think he’s still being paid by Goldman Sachs rather than American taxpayers.

The interim assistant secretary of the Treasury for financial stabilization yesterday had a tone of impatience during a question-and-answer session, leaving some attendees feeling cheated.

He tersely called the additional cash piped to AIG a “one-off event.”  Well, glad to have that cleared up!

I hope more news organizations follow Bloomberg’s action:

Meanwhile, Bloomberg News sued the Federal Reserve for information under the US Freedom of Information Act, claiming the Fed refuses to identify the recipients of almost $2 trillion of emergency loans as well as the troubled assets the bank is accepting as collateral.

I’ll be damned if I’m going to speculate about a yet-again secretive series of actions using our taxpayer money.  The issue here is about transparency — we shouldn’t have to run around like Nancy Drew finding out what should be neither a secret nor a mystery.

We’ve lived for 8 years under the most secretive misAdministration in my lifetime.  Clearly our corporations and other big bidness has been secretive as well, and it’s become a national sickness, imo.

Enough already.  Time to let the sunshine in … all the way in.

Pony Party Open Thread: One week later…

Photobucket

MechaMummy’s still celebrating, how about you?

Nov. 11th- July 4th

Abused by a system that sent this young man into battle, he has devised his own manner in how to deal with fear. He hides it. Deep inside, he knows that if his fear shows, it may spread to other people, who, he is positive would all & forever point at him as the origin.

He must not show what tears at him so he now shows his petaled face, sure that everybody loves flowers. His mother told him so. Here behind the bushes on the edge of the park where he lives, he marvels at the people cheering loud explosions & worries for their safety, having seen the devastation these bombs, bursting in air, cause. He does not comprehend the celebration of independance that shines, reflected on his metal face, positive it could never warm his soul.

Young men like this will be seen more & more as the systematic abuse they have & are enduring starts to bloom . We, who would never use our brothers & sisters like this, are inevitably charged with taking their hand & reassuring them that some one cares. No amount of pills or programs or tests will ever help unless there`s a caring soul to help them along.

The thing that will be difficult will be to make sure these people are not pointed out as the originators of their troubles. There will be many. Please smile at them & be nice. Have a nice day, & count your blessings.

This image I shot at night when while fooling around with the resident skunk, I noticed the light on some statues. I had moved these statues a few days previously & had not yet seen them in the light from the porch. This light was a little behind the statues & a little higher. There were two lights on each side of the porch entry, one red & one green. [Don`t ask].

I went & got a tripod & camera& set up with the camera set at F2.8 & started with a 6 second exposure. I started fooling around with the set-up & went to get a few masks from my collection, & brought along a flashlight. I changed to a 2 second exposure & I would spray the shot with a quick bath of light with the flashlight. This is one of the images from that series. Another image from that series can be seen in a previous post called “DICHOTOMY”

FIRE WATCHER

Slideshow: 596 newspaper front pages announce Barak Obama’s victory in U.S. Presidential Elections

Hello,

I’m a long time reader, this is my first “essay” (I’m a friend of buhdydharma).  A couple of days ago I created this slideshow:

 http://yeswecan.ehuna.org/

 (turn on your sound)

I thought some at docudharmacom might enjoy it.  It contains 596 newspaper front pages from across the world on 11/5, one day after last week’s elections.  Feel free to pass it on if you like it.

If you’d like to know a bit more about how the slideshow was built, check out this blog entry:

 http://blog.ehuna.org/2008/11/…

Emmanuel

Environmental Injustice: Those who would Pollute Poor People because their Lives are Worth Less.

This column by Michael Kinsley in the Washington Post today is immoral crap. In an effort to defend the indefensible, Larry Summers 1991 writings suggesting we off-source pollution to poor countries, this jerk fully endorses polluting the poor overseas, and implictly, at home.  It is the antithesis of environmental justice.  

If an industrial plant that causes pollution is going to be built somewhere, it ought to be built where life is worth less.

Revisiting One Lawrence Summers Controversy

This diary is not about Larry Summers and whether he should be Treasury Secretary.  It is about this asshat, Michael Kinsley. The smarmy obscenity of his writings reveals a person without conscience.  Karma will get his ass one day.    

More, after the fold.

(also on Dkos: http://www.dailykos.com/story/… )

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