I’m stuck.
I don’t want to stay where I am and I can’t bring myself to leave. And so the brain idles in neutral, consuming energy but going nowhere.
Outside, such startling energy. Wind, rain, lightening. As yet unearthed life, ripening steadily under it all. Where there’s hope, there’s life.
No hope here. No more words, either.
There’s a new Americans United for Change TV ad out, which is scheduled to air on national cable networks now that President Bush has vetoed the Iraq withdrawal bill: “Mr. President, you can veto a bill. But you can’t veto the truth.”
You can go here to watch it on YouTube.
Below is a reprise of my post on May 1, 2003.
May 1st, known as May Day,
also called Beltane (Bright Fire) by the Anglo-Saxons, was considered the first day of summer. May Day was symbolic of a return to life, of the defeat of the hard winter, with new hopes for good planting and rich harvests. Beltane was the time of milk and honey, the primary time of pleasure, of blossoming and blooming, of desire and satisfaction.
More modern times co-opted May Day into a Workers Day, born in the struggle for the eight-hour day.
Both meanings of this day reflect the importance of celebrating the very human need to see the future as holding hope — for everything from better weather for planting and partying to better conditions for working and earning.
But maybe most appropriate for this particular May Day is the meaning that is the widely recognized distress call MAYDAY! MAYDAY!, which is really from the French m’aidez, meaning ‘help me.’
With his well-established American chauvinism and arrogance, our pretentious president preempts and ignores the significance of May Day to most of the people on this planet and makes the following proclamation:
NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim May 1, 2003, as Loyalty Day.
Loyalty Day? Loyalty to national chauvinism and arrogance? Loyalty to a nation led by lying, conniving, despots? I don’t think so.
Mayday! Mayday! Help us all!
So, here it is, four years later and another May Day, and Dumbya is still doing his best to undo whatever strengths this country has left.
Haloscan let me know that you left a comment on an old post (which I can’t locate), asking me to delete all of your previous comments. You didn’t leave an email address or a name. In your comment, you said that when you Google your name, your old comments come up, and you’d like me to delete them. Without knowing how to contact you for more specifics, and without knowing your name so that I can Google it, I can’t do what you request.
On the other hand, if you click on the first words of my sidebar and scroll all the way down to what is my “about” info, you will find my email address. Email me and give me your name so that I can Google it and find your comments as well. Then, I will be happy to delete them.
Sorry, ol’ “girl.”
Stay the course? You’ve got to be kidding. This is America, not the damned Titanic. I’ll give you a sound bite: Throw the bums out!
So begins the first chapter in legendary leader Lee Iococca’s just-published book Where Have All the Leaders Gone?
A good deal of the chapter is devoted to his “Nine Cs of Leadership.” My four and a half year old grandson has more of those Characteristics than any of our government’s current leaders.
The end of the chapter is Iococca’s calling for action He says:
Even if you don’t read the whole book, be sure to read this chapter.
Promoted at http://www.a28.org/, a movement will officially begin on April 28 (and extend all summer) to support Kucinich’s efforts to impeach Cheney. From that site:
George Bush and Dick Cheney have lied the nation into a war of aggression, are spying in open violation of the law, and have sanctioned the use of torture. These are high crimes and misdemeanors that demand accountability. Since Congress doesn’t seem to get it, on April 28 Americans from Miami, Florida to North Pole, Alaska are going to spell it out for them: IMPEACH!
So, on April 28, tomorrow, people all over the country will be spelling out the word “IMPEACH” in some very creative ways.
It can be as small as writing IMPEACH on the sidewalk in chalk or as large as organizing 2,000 people on a beach to make a human mural. Be creative! Some of the ways that people are talking about spelling it out include: signs, gigantic lasers, toy soldiers, stencils, LED throwies, freewayblogging, banner drops, light projections, t-shirts, rocks, skydivers, skywriters, peaches, christmas lights, flags and balloons.
There are more than 100 actions and events planned across the country. Me? I’ll act right here.
Thanks to r@d@r at ex-liontamer for pointing me to the A28 site.
The most interesting thing for me about the Democratic debate among presidential contenders was how their personalities shaped their responses to the material.
It was obvious what strong and assertive personalities both Obama and Hillary are. They also are well-trained politicians, careful not to go too far over on one side or the other.
Gravel from Alaska, the gadfly, played a great counterpoint to the careful balance-beaming of the aforementioned two. He obviously is not a serious contender, but he spoke brazen truths that others are afraid to voice.
Biden, with his silver hair and elder-attractive features is a slick politician as well. He just looks so approachable, kindly, like someone’s educated and wordly grandfather. You kind of want to believe that he probably knows best.
I like Edwards, but I don’t think he came across as well as some of the others. And I got pretty tired of Richardson’s numbering every point he tried to make.
So, it was Kucinich who impressed me the most. He seemed the most human, the most humane, the most able to address the complexities of the various big pictures. I think he’d stand a better chance if he looked more like Biden.
I drink a lot of green tea, flavored and unflavored, caffeinated and non.
The following is from the side of my Celestrial Seasonings Honey Lemon Ginseng green tea box:
I used to have many moments like that when I was active and alive. At least I’m sure I did — doing a racy Salsa, putting the finishing touches on a poem, sitting on the porch of a vacation rental with my women friends. But these are things I don’t do anymore. That’s what full-time caregiving of a demanding, narcissistic parent does: robs you of the real you.
“Deeply and instensely active and alive.” I wonder if I will live long enough to be that again.
I did spend today planting flowers in between my mother’s calls for attention. Mother Earth vs earth mother. No wonder I no longer hear that voice inside me.
yes it has, although not one single robin. but the parking lot at the greenhouse was packed today, and the roadways were peppered with cute young guys in baseball caps and convertibles with the tops down. of course, my tree-pollinated sneezes have begun, and three more squirrels are eating what’s left of my budding bulbs. or maybe three of the ones we caught and let loose three miles down the road came back. it’s hard to tell. all those squirrels look alike. at least all of ours seem to.
“I wish I had a friend,” she said yesterday. Today she said, “I want to go to heaven.”
I try to sit and talk with her, as a friend would. But she can no longer carry on a conversation. Each of her sentences ends before she gets to the object of the verb.
I wish I could get sprung.