Rogue, a Person Who Deceives, Swindles

The title of this piece is from the online thesaurus site under synonyms for rogue. Going Rogue, Palin's book is out and she's already been called a liar by republicans and others. It makes no difference; she is sainted to her followers. Probably in the same way that Eva Peron came to be regarded in Argentina. It is worthy of noting that the Perons were fascists, and the governments they provided their people were all about power and money, despite being billed as populist.

There is a weird element of Goddess-worship lurking in the Palinistas. The image of the Madonna here, in a xtianist culture. Like Our Lady of Lourdes, or the Mexican Black Madonna. Somehow Sara P. is seen as both a mother and an object of desire. She's the other version of Madonna, the pop star. She is good at manipulating men with her sexuality, but she is not beautiful enough to have become a film star, or tv star. But now she is flirting with big time fame.

As far as politics goes, she is going to be limited by her ignorance and her clear intention not to do anything about it. If she did stay in politics she would be defeated, over and over again. And this would take off some of the lustre. She has no intention of doing that, of course. This book thing is clearly aimed at making some serious money off whatever has happened in her life before it all falls down around her. She is riding a train to gravyville and she knows, on some level, that she is never going to get the respect of the people who run things in this world. That means other governments, other republican leaders. She knows she isn't really good enough to do these things. But she really doesn't care about that.

For Sara P. its all about adulation and buckage. The more of these things, the better. She doesn't give a crap about the USA, about Alaska, about the people who support her even. She lives for petty reasons. She is essentially white trash america. That's a fairly racist thing to say, I believe. But I know there is a segment of the population that this describes. Those who love Sara see in her a woman they have loved in real life, mother, daughter, lover, sister. And since she's happily married and has a bunch of kids they assume she is without sin, virginal, yet MILFy. The perfect female for our culture. Sexually active, but pure as the Alaskan snow. Married to the First Dude, and equipped with the Partridge Family's bunch of kids, with silly american names like Pepper and Sneazy and Amber (yes, I know those aren't their real names and that I have a child who has the same name as one of Sara's).

I think it is really just a question of time for Sara to end up like Carrie Prejean, the California woman who blew off her Ms. California title by being above it all. Prejean's tapes of herself masturbating in front of a camera are now being circulated. Talk about your hypocrisy. Got to love them rightwing women. I believe there is plenty of dirt on Sara out there, too. And that it will all turn up in time. Her erstwhile son-in-law that wasn't, Levy (who is appearing in PLaygirl, Jonston and all) has said he has something way big on her and she'd better toe his line. And she was all nice about Levi in her Oprah interview. When told that, Levi said that Sara was smart. He had too much on her for her to mess with him.

Of course, if Levi turns up dead in a car wreck, or a drug overdose, I think we will all know the real story. If I were him I'd be pretty damn careful from now on.

But what's really going to happen is that Sara will fade, will be even more exposed as a loser, and end up with a rightwing talk show that will be an echo chamber for those who need one so desperately. She looks cute and she can be funny. And she mainly just wants to be rich. In thirty years she may end up on Hollywood Squares.

Or, the world may come apart and she be elected President of these United States. In that case, I will think that end times may actually have shown up.

But somehow, I don't think that is too likely. I will say, if it looks like Sara is going to be elected, it will be time to lay in some firearms and other supplies.

May the Lady enjoy this human joke and protect us with Her mercy.

Blog Change Statement

I have taken my poetry blog out of the public forum. Few people bother with it, and those that do seem to be there not for the poetry. I do not intend to post poems that end up being scanned for salacious bits from thirty years ago.

To that end the blog, Homage & Apology, is now an invitation only blog. If you would like to be invited to this blog (and I really don't think you do), please let me know at tosburn@msn.com. Not only do you need me to have your email address, but Blogger requires a google login for this to work.

I apologize for this, but the only other choice was deleting the blog altogether. While that might be the better thing to do I found I could not quite bring myself to delete the more than 300 postings that exist there. Though I do have copies of them, printed out and stuck away in that morass of paper that is my files.

All that I do is meant to honor the Lady.

Our Lady of Perpetual Meddling

Okay, I got the term from Mudflats, the Alaskan blogger. But it really does describe Sara the Bare-uh not the Michael Palin. Yesterday's election in NY 23 is another weird feather in that awful cap she is designing for 2012. A republican district since before the Civil War, Sarah and her friends Rusty Limbo and Dick not in the Armey, managed to finally elect a democrat there. The regular republican candidate was a woman, and she had an italian name (and we know Sarah doesn't like that) and she was a pro-choice middle of the road republican. So Sarah and her friends drove the woman out of the race and told the world to support this loser-idiot candidate from the hard right. He lost. The democrat won. Why? Because who in their right minds wants Sarah and company to run this country? You say they have real support? I say that when push comes to shove most americans want somebody who isn't crazy running things. Even though we don't trust them (pols), even though we hate to give any money to keep things running. At least, at the very heart of things, we know that Sarah Palin sitting in the Oval Office is pretty much the actual end of western civilization.

Our Lady of Perpetual Meddling. Gotta love that.

And there's her ongoing war with her erstwhile could've been son-in-law, Levi the young man with the prominent Johnston. He's doing a playgirl spread and they will sell the hell out of that magazine. He's a cute kid, redneck from Alaska. And he keeps speaking out about what the crazy lady is really like. Oh, if only the republicans will nominate her in 2012. But, even if they did that, she'd be sure to quit somewhere along the way. That is her way of being Sarah. I expect down the pipe we will see her on Hollywood Squares or something just like it. Famous long ago, to quote Ray Mungo.

Politics and Foxhunting Novels

Politics
I am not prescient enough to know if anything will be accomplished in Washington these next few weeks. The Republican party represents logjam. The Democrats represent the squabbling family. The lobbyists still own pretty much everybody, access-wise. Out among the rest of us in this land, we go to work and pay our bills and hope for the best. We take care of our kids.

The people marginalized and crazy listen to Rush and Glenn Beck. The young not-so-cool beat each other up, still looking for some sort of manhood ritual. The women in the audience vacillate between being attractive and fearing their own bodies. Overall the culture is not too clear on what it wants to be.

But that's okay. Whatever else is going on, Obama is president. Remember the last few years. No matter how bad this guy may be perceived to be, he will never be in GWB's class for stupidity and poor luck. What gets me about George Bush and his supporters is that this was clear even before the powers that be in the aristocracy and the Republican party made him president. He was always a failure, with poor luck and an inability to make a good judgement. I suppose they figured he'd be easy to control.

Frankly, if Scooter Libby hadn't been convicted (and thus diminished Dickhead Cheney's influence in the white house), and Condi Rice hadn't risen in influence, things could have been even worse. As it was, the Bush years pretty much trashed america. So, will Obama bring us back? Is it even possible?

But you gotta love those Republicans. They are ever more nuts. Now Newt Gingrich has been characterized by the Mullahs of the Right as a RINO, republican in name only. Ouch. And he used to be seen as the intellectual face of the right. Now that role has been taken over by Glenn Beck. Wow. Things are gonna get really crazy. We can only hope the electorate continues to vote their economic interest.

Culture
I bought some more Rita Mae Brown books off of ebay. I bought a bunch of her books new in the 90s when Paige was reading the cat mysteries. Now I buy them used for low money. At one time I would've felt bad about that. But no longer. Mainly because the people in her books who she consistently characterizes as poor middle-class people, even though they hang out with the rich and powerful people in their little towns and they live in property that is worth millions, these people constantly complain about paying their fair share of taxes. Government is always bad, the people are always good. Never mind the infra-structure, or defense, or social security. Never mind any of that. It 's just mindless whining about cash flow.

I point out that Brown herself keeps many horses, runs a foxhunt, and travels when she wants to. Whine whine whine. She pounds out the books, two or three a year, because she needs a lot of cashflow. The avergage american family gets by on in the neighborhood of 50gs. How much do you think this woman is spending? I would guess she's more in the 250gs area. In any case, it doesn't matter. I buy her books, which I find entertaining, and pay her nothing for the privilege. Well, I have given her some serious money over the years. But hey. Those days are over Rita.

What's really interesting to me is that Rita used to be a fiery lesbian activist in the city. It turns out she's really just an upper middle-class little lady at heart. Her books often have discussions of really high-end sports car and guns. She knows a lot about food and possessions, but clearly not much about policy and culture. It is interesting to me.

And yes, I've read her other books, too. Her tennis novel, her book that rang up the grecian gods (literally), and some of the others. And they are all over the map. She's really not too clear on what it is she believes. There's a mild amount of xtianity in the cat books, very middle-level except for the old lady, Miranda Hogendobber, that is a serious fundie, until her old boyfriend shows up and they start up again, after forty or fifty years. Then her religion becomes less pronounced.

Why read the woman? Mainly, the animal characters are fun. They are critical of humans in smart and interesting ways. They also share the author's inability to take responsibility for the larger world, though. But they get away with it by simply saying it it the natural way. To let the poor starve to death. That's what the animals in the forest do. Does Brown think that is what we should do? If humans are different from other species in some demonstrable way, isn't it because we make it possible for the failures of the species to continue to live and spawn. Is this good or bad? Is it your kid we are talking about? If it is, then you would say it is necessary. Mrs. Murphy, Brown's cat, would say it is irresponsible to allow those who can't keep up to continue living.

Well, that's pretty much the argument about the role of government there. The libertarians would say that is what is wrong with government, the idea that we should take care of everybody. There is always a tension between the fact that humans are a herd animal, that we have to live together or our children will die, and the fact that there is an element of the nomad that is inherent in us, but these days it is expressed by the desire to make something of one's self (and by these days, I mean since city culture arose six thousand years ago). We are either all in this together, or we are all on our own. Which is it?

Both of course. You come into the world into your family, but you are significantly trapped in your own head. Self consciousness exists, but culture is learned from your family. Ultimately you grow up, marry, reproduce, get old and die by yourself, even if your family is around you. You never get outside of the skull, unless you are one of those people who have convinced yourself you can cast your consciousness out into the universe. Hey, maybe you can. In which case, I guess you can leave the rest of us behind and go be the next evolved species.

But this entire discussion begs the actual question: buying books used means the creators of those books are not paid for what they have provided. And the music biz is upset because people download stuff for free? Ha. Writers have been ripped off for years. Who among us hasn't haunted used bookstores? I know I have. And although I have felt bad about it, I have ripped off many writers in my lifetime.

But the only people who get really rich from art in our culture are the business people who create the models of production and distribution. Do they deserve it? Sure. But they always make sure they get the most of the revenue stream, and that is where it breaks down. That isn't right. Is there anything that can be done about this? Who knows. The internet is fun, though, because it takes a lot of control away from the MBAs, so things are much more diverse than they were. Publishing on demand to kindle devices and cell phones will also complicate it all. The one thing you can be assured of is that the artists will continue to be screwed. That is the nature of capitalism. That's why most artists are democrats and not republicans. Or maybe they become more republican as they age and accrue some holdings (Rita Mae comes to mind, here).

So I am going to read Rita's foxhunting mysteries. I like the character of Sister, the old lady, because she isn't as judgemental as most of Brown's other characters. And I like the foxes and the interest they have in the game itself. Is this actually true of foxhunting? I have no clue. Consciousness seems like it should be extremely different between species, but Brown of course antromorphises all her animal characters as much as possible.

Poetry
Meanwhile I've started reading Anne Sexton's poems again. They remind me of Pat Smith, the woman I lived with from 1973 through 1981. She was 13 years older than me and had been significantly wounded in her life by her mother's suicide when Pat was thirteen. In any case, Pat was a pretty good poet, and eventually Sangamon Poets published a chapbook of her stuff entitled "The Museum Is Closed". I don't know how familiar she was with Sexton in those days. I was not reading Sexton, myself. Knoepfle didn't like her and discouraged me from looking at her stuff (Knoepfle liked Liesl Mueller as far as women poets went; he wasn't really fond of women in general, except insofar as they kissed his ass).

The only problem with Anne is her relentless desire to kill herself. It manifests in nearly every piece in ways ranging from blatant to obscure. And her episcopalianism seems to legislate for it consistently. Well, I have an interest in other people's suicides, I have to admit it. Having children, I would never do something like that. But I try hard not to be judgemental. Sexton of course also had an incestuos relationship with her daughter. So she had some big problems. Yikes.

I have been writing some new poems, however. I'd ask someone to read them, if anyone were reading this. But I doubt somehow that anyone is. On my poetry blog, Homage & Apology, in the last hundred hits on the blog, 32 of them aren't me. And of those 32 at least 8 are google's bots roaming through. So, I understand that know one reads this stuff unless I put in something that is currently pop, which I sometimes inadvertently do do. Like the anglo-saxon thing. Better not to go there, eh?

May the Lady Arianrhod honor me with Her mercy this hard weird Tuesday at the end of October, 2009. May you all be well in your diverse selves.

Reptile Fear in America

So it turns out that Balloon Boy's old man is stone crackers. He comes from that group of strange and stupid people who believe that some reptile aliens that can change their appearance are actually running our government, and indeed, the entire world. Yes, this guy was desperate to get on tv so he could tell the masses about this whole conspiracy and thus "save the world."

Well, we all want to save the world. What is interesting to me about this is how people come to allow themselves to believe things that there is no physical evidence for. So, yes, religion comes under this heading. And, fact of matter, there is some parts of the scientific map that require you to believe unprovable things to go to the next step.

This ultimately turns into that game of trusting your instincts. What is real and what is not. What is truth and what is illusion. Nobody can be truly sure without telling themselves a lie. Thus, living in doubt is the only surety. I guess that would be Heisenberg in a metaphorical sense. Yeah baby, to quote Austin Powers.

But I feel sorry for the kid in this initial story. Balloon Boy, as he will always be known, though he never traveled in the balloon, will grow up and this will be the demarcation point of identity for him. He will be that kid. His father will be shown to be a complete flake and probably do some minor jail time. Lord knows what will become of them all, his family, his siblings. That is the tragic part.

One thing I did not know before reading about this story is that Denver's airport is supposed to be an alien prison facility for locking up those who are onto the whole scam. Yes, the aliens are locking people up at the Denver airport. Wonder if my ex-wife knows this?

Details of being: I gotta laugh, hopefully with the Lady. Why is there suffering? Because the universe conserves energy, folks. It's just not that hard. There is no controlling force that can change the rules. Why would there be such a thing? The Lady knows that all progeny grow up to be who they are, not who you would choose them to be.

Hereditary Privilege; Why Don't We Arrest Cheney for Treason?

Well, a year ago I was still not at all certain Obama would beat McCain, though it looked pretty good. A year ago, Piper was going to Wiley School and it wasn't going at all well. A year ago we went to Terre Haute for a college football game and Piper completely fell apart. It was a bad experience.

This year my health has been more problematic. I've been to the ER a couple of times. I even dreamed about going to the ER the other night. Mostly i remember I was upset that I was spending yet another $200 co-pay. It's hard to keep up with the mounting medical costs. We have decent, even good, health insurance, but they have raised co-pays for both meds and for office visits. And we have more of both to contend with. I suppose this is going to be the order of the day for us all, as we age, and as our health demands being dealt with. I could be ignoring things, but, I can't ignore my daughter Piper's problems. They deserve whatever we can put into them. Which we do.

Politics
Olympia Snow jumped ship this week and came over to the light side, voting with the dems for the health bill that Baucus put together. I don't think it is enough, by far, but to have anything come together would be some sort of relief for us all. Meanwhile the Republicans stonewall constantly now. As if that is going to work.

There is a new republican website, gop.com, but it doesn't work worth a fuck. And lots of the information is not exactly right. They promote all the black republicans they have had, but those people are from before Nixon turned the party into the party for racists. It might as well be said. They have Michael Steele as their head, but they treat him like a monkey. And he is one self-hating black guy if you ever want to see one. It explains his almost complete lack of sense in dealing with things. He too was unhappy that a black american president won the Nobel Prize. Wouldn't want that, would we?

Anyway, on that website they were referring to Ronald Reagan as Ronaldus Magnus, the great Ronald. As if this were twelfth century england or scotland. You can see that at the heart of the modern republican party is the tory strain that resisted the american revolution. They would actually prefer an america, based on hereditary privilege. What's truly amazing in our time is how they have convinced all those dirtpoor working class white guys that they are on the same side. Some people just desire peasant status. As long as they are allowed to have their guns.

You just want to grab them by their lapels and shake them, "wake up, smell the coffee. These guys are crooks and they are taking everything that everybody worked for and using it to live in mansions in gated communities. It's time to man up and take these bastards down."

But that is the real truth of the Limbaugh brigade: They won't ever man up. The inner core of these people is that they are the cowards. Rush didn't go to Vietnam and none of the neo-cons ever served our country in any meaningful way. Dick Cheney got exemption after exemption. He still thinks he's exempt.

The one thing that could change everything is arresting Dick Cheney for treason.

That's what should actually happen.

Of course, it won't. The democrats are no more capable of "manning up" than the republicans are. I, at least, am secure in my masculinity. But, not being from the hereditary ruling class, I pretty much have no actual money or holdings of any kind. I do have this blog. Which nobody reads. Well, there is my sense of irony. Its very well defined.

I ask the Lady for mercy.

Obama's Nobel Prize and Reaction to It

Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize because those people really do want things to change. Will they change? I see extreme madness in the air, all over the map. The republican right wing machine had their heads explode over Obama winning this award. Yet two years ago it was a commonplace for them to say that any criticism of the president amounted to treason. They cheered when the olympics didn't go to Chicago. They whined when the Nobel committee gave him this prize. They hate him. And they hate us. Anybody who isn't on board with their insanity.

The time has come to start ignoring them. But they control the media, or at least they control what the media thinks the narrative should be. Too bad, too. If we were just allowed to ignore them, they would all go away in about six months. They would dry up and disappear, because there is no substance there.

And frankly, perhaps there is no substance to Barack Obama. Although I have read his books, and they seem pretty substantive. I think it is worthy of note that the other great source of critique to this prize is from the american Left. As usual, they cannot decide how much more pissed off they can get from not being able to drive everything on Obama's agenda right into the garage they have constructed of their ideology. It is almost comical. American leftists are absolutely great at shooting their own toes off in terms of getting anything done.

So there's our man in the middle: Barack Obama, trying to deal with a lot of truly heavy crap in the world today.

Oh yes, who else hated this award? Hamas, the Taliban, Hezbollah. People who have a lot in common with Hannity and Beck. They all hate Obama. That's because he actually is an inspirational figure and they are just petty little players trying to grab power with tactics from the street. There is little real difference now between what stands for the republican party and the people who run Hamas. And the religious right is pretty much just like the taliban when it comes to gay people, women, sexuality, all those issues that just freak them out because their little weenies are jumping in their robes.

But, never mind. Obama represents hope. Giving him this award is an entirely political decision. They are trying to say let this man govern and make foreign policy and we will all be better off. And maybe we will. Maybe we will. We'd better hope so. There is not much else left to refer to, people.

Thanks to the Lady for Her surprises. This is a particularly cool one; it is both funny and not funny at the same time.