'Rigged' 2016 Election Has Voters Feeling Helpless, Unheard, and Ashamed

'Rigged' 2016 Election Has Voters Feeling Helpless, Unheard, and Ashamed



THE TIME DRAWS NEAR.

TRUMP'S POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY

TO ACT RANDOMLY AND HOPE FOR THE BEST.

PEEVER LAW #47

GENERALLY SPEAKING, IF YOU GET MORE VOTES, YOU SHOULD WIN THE ELECTION. THERE ARE, HOWEVER, EXCEPTIONS.

Thousands Call on DNC to Oust 'Corporatist Tool' Wasserman Schultz

Thousands Call on DNC to Oust 'Corporatist Tool' Wasserman Schultz



I THINK TRUMP COULD REALLY USE HER. 

SUNDAY MORNING HYMN: Sam Stone - John Prine

SUNDAY MORNING PRAYER: A PRAYER OF PROTEST

Since our mothers and fathers cried out,
since you heard their cries and noticed,
since we left the brick production of Egypt,
since you foiled the productin schedules of Pharaoh,
      we have known your name,
      we have sensed your passion,
      we have treasured your vision of justice.

And now we turn to you again,
    whose precious name we know.
We turn to you because there are
    still impossible production schedules,
    still exploitative systems,
    still cries of pain at injustice,
    still cheap labor that yields misery.

We turn to you in impatience and exasperation,
    wondering, "How long?" before you answer
           our pleading question,
     hear our petition,
           since you are not a labor boss and do not set wages.

We bid you, stir up those who can change things;
     do your stirring in the jaded halls of government;
     do your stirring in the cynical offices of the corporations;
     do your stirring amid the voting public too anxious to care;
     do your stirring in the church that thinks too much about purity and not enough about wages.

Move, as you moved in ancient Egyptian days.
Move the waters and the flocks and the herds
   toward new statutes and regulations,
        new equity and good health care,
        new dignity that cannot be given on the cheap.

We have known now long since,
         that you reject cheap grace;
even as we now know that you reject cheap labor.

You, God of justice and dignity and equity,
keep the promises you bodied in Jesus,
          that the poor may be first-class members of society,
          that the needy may have good care and respect,
          that the poor earth may rejoice in well-being,
          that we may all come to Sabbath rest together,
              the owner and the worker,
              the leisure class and the labor class,
          all at peace in dignity and justice,
              not on the cheap, but good measure,
              pressed down,
              running over....forgiven.

Walter Brueggemann, Prayers for a Privileged People

Advice for Divided Democrats (Please Note: You Probably Won't Like It)

Advice for Divided Democrats (Please Note: You Probably Won't Like It)



THIS IS THE WORST ADVICE I'VE EVER HEARD FROM REICH. IT'S NOT OVER TILL IT'S OVER. AND THE DEMOCRATS ARE BEING SET UP TO SETTLE FOR SECOND BEST. THE QUESTION REMAINS; WILL HILLARY WIN HONESTLY, OR AS A RESULT OF THE OLD BOYS CLUB? EVERYONE SEEMS TO BE PROTECTING THEIR CAPITALIST IDEAS. AT THIS POINT I AM NOT WITH HILLARY. I DON'T FEEL COMFORTABLE VOTING FOR THE STATUS QUO. AND AS FOR TRUMP: I'M NOT INTO SUICIDE.

FOR THE THERAPIST IN ALL OF US

A THIRTY YEAR CAREER AS A FAMILY THERAPIST. IN REFLECTING OVER IT, THIS IS WHAT CAME OUT. I HOPE YOU ENJOY. ALTHOUGH THAT MIGHT BE THE WRONG WORD. I HOPE YOU UNDERSTAND.


                                                                            

INVISIBLE

He walked into my office over fifteen years now, just after I had a heart attack.

His skin was fragile, transparent, like a fine piece of china, a beautifully patterned, hand-painted cup, this one with spidery cracks down the side, like they get with age. It looked like the slightest touch of his arm would draw blood. His face had deep wrinkles; his brows were wild and bushy. He walked with a slight limp. 

It was mainly the booze. Whiskey. I asked if he remembered when he started drinking. “I don’t remember. I have always drunk.” Have you had any sobriety?  “Yes. Usually no more than a month or so. One time, I made it six months. But she always calls me back. I am under her spell.”  Have you used any other drugs?  “Oh, I have tried everything at one time or another. But it’s the alcohol. She summons me into her arms and I go willingly.”

I was impressed by his insight. But what I remember is his eyes. They were hollow, blurred, blank.  Yet penetrating.  Filled with grief, longing.

***

The payoff for a family therapist is never in seeing the details, but in being able to see what lies underneath them. What are the rules? What boundaries have been established between the generations? Are they skewed in any particular direction? Whose family of origin is winning out between the husband and wife? Are there any triangulations, any parentification? All of this walks into your office, following dutifully behind each family member.

The technical term is systems theory.  Its main premise is that the therapist needs to look beyond the members that make up any family, to see the abstract organization of phenomena, independent of their substance, type, or spatial or temporal scales of existence.  The mantra is “the sum total of the parts is equal to more than the whole.” One plus one always equals more than two.

It’s the “more than” that I was looking for. Unseen and elusive, but always there.

#

I was 52. A heart attack. The heart surgery wasn’t bad, but the sternal staph infection that followed was. They told me later that one in two people die.

They say heart problems are primarily hereditary, which made sense for me, my father having died at 46. But I can’t help wondering if my work contributed.  Seeing the invisible walk into your office every day for 25 years can wear on you. It’s not just the people. It’s what hides behind them. It’s a risky business.

Another surgery so they could clean out the staph.  When they removed a tube from my throat, the first thing I asked was how the surgery went.  My wife had to tell me it was eight days later. A medically induced coma, they called it.  I’d run a 105-degree fever, so everyone hoped I had some functioning brain cells left. Everyone was relieved when I spoke.

#

Most of my graduate work involved being observed working with families. This at first is pretty trying, as you are groping around to find your balance, your style, and trying to figure out what the hell you are doing.

I was seeing a family of five, including an adolescent boy who had been placed in a detention home, when everything came together.  I was able to see the invisible. The boy’s acting out was his way of taking attention away from the parents, who were both closet alcoholics.

During the debriefing, the supervisor asked, “So now you get it?” I answered yes. Light bulb. Sudden enlightenment.

His only remark was, “Congratulations. “

#

Back to the alcoholic, the papery skin, the eyes.

I listened; he talked. Back from prison.  Homeless and living on skid row. Begging on the street. Married and divorced three times. A bleeding ulcer. Pancreatitis. Beaten so many times he now only vaguely remembered the injuries, much less the people or reasons.

“I was promised a job in Kansas City. My wife and I and our child were living in Indiana. We packed up what little we had, spent what money we could scrounge up, and moved. We got settled in and I reported for work. They had given my job to someone else. I went on a two-day bender, got into a terrible fight. When I returned to our apartment, bloody, battered, and bruised, my wife and child were gone.”

He came back from many stories like this one. Promises broken, nightmares of his own making. Each time saved, he was thankful. But not enough to quit.

#

Just weeks before I was to retire, they came into my office: a husband, wife, daughter, and a 9-month-old child. The daughter was 15 or 16. She was the identified patient. Anorexic. It seemed odd that so much time had passed before the parents had a second child. Turns out the child was the daughter’s. The husband was the father.

In moments like this, you’ve got to have faith in what you are doing. People turn over their lives to your manipulation. It can weigh heavy if all you have is your knowledge. Systems theory, family therapy you can learn. But it doesn’t hurt to put that faith in God, or whatever you call a power greater than yourself.

Days when you feel doubt, whether it be in your work or in your God, are days you have to beware of. Those days can send you spinning: disoriented, lost, down a path you don’t want to travel. You can easily turn to alcohol, pills, depression. I have seen therapists become mentally ill themselves because they couldn’t find a balance between their work and their God. They couldn’t deal with both sides of the invisible.  For me, learning is a lot easier than believing. I don’t know why. Some days my faith is strong, other days weak.

#

I had the strangest dream during those eight days in a coma. This carnie was operating a ride at our local carnival. He asked me if I would like to get on. The ride looked like a magnetic resonance imaging scanner, which didn’t seem out of place.  I lay down and was slowly injected into it.

This was not the ordinary MRI.  I found myself going up and down, like on an old wooden roller coaster. Techno music was playing. Bright lights flashed; some of the colors I didn’t recognize. Faster and faster, going so fast everything seemed to blend together, like a rainbow smudged by the tears from my wife, daughter, and son, dripping onto me.  I didn’t know about those then.

I arrived back at the start. The carnie asked me if I was ready. I understood him to mean “ready to move on.” He had shown me something of the journey. Right then, I heard my wife yell out over my left shoulder: “Don’t go.”

It would have been easy to say yes. The music was enticing, the colors mesmerizing. Everything seemed right.

#

According to Carl Jung, dreams are a way of communicating and acquainting yourself with the unconscious. Dreams are not attempts to conceal your true feelings from the waking mind, but rather they are a window to your unconscious. They expose the invisible. They guide you to wholeness and offer a solution to a problem you are facing in your waking life.

I have looked for God externally. In cathedrals. In books. In seminary. I never really found Him until I turned inside. Internally. Searching my experiences. My memories. My strengths. My dark side.  Building. Rebuilding. Doing over. And over.

Therapy and faith involve giving yourself over to the invisible. Believing in what you cannot see. Both take hard work.  It’s never quite right.

There are still times I’m not sure what to do with all of this.

#

Several months later I saw his obituary. There were no marriages listed, no sons or daughters, only that he had lived, and then died. That night I had a dream. He was on the street corner, begging.  When he looked at me, I had this strange feeling that we had met before. I shook his hand and handed him a $5 bill. 

“Thanks,” he said.

Thanks was all he needed to say.

MUSIC TO LIVE BY

THE BEST ROCK-FOLK GROUPS TO HAVE EVER INHABITED THIS GOOD EARTH:
1. THE BEATLES. THE BEST, MOST INNOVATIVE THERE EVER WAS. TWO OF THE BEST WRITERS IN MCCARTHY AND LENNON. UNSURPASSED. MY FAVORITE SONG: A DAY IN  THE LIFE."
2. THE EAGLES. A TALENTED GROUP. FREY, HENLEY, WALSH, FELDER, SCHMIT,  LEADON, MEISNER. SOME OF THE GREATEST SONGS EVER. "DESPERADO" AND "HOTEL CALIFORNIA," TWO OF THE BEST YOU'LL FIND ANYWHERE.
3. CROSBY, STILLS, NASH AND YOUNG. BETTER HARMONY THAN A BARBERSHOP QUARTET. ONE OF MY VERY FAVORITE SONGS: "MY LADY OF THE ISLAND."
4. SANTANA. HAS TEAMED UP WITH A LOT OF SINGERS AND OTHER MUSICIANS. A BRILLIANT CAREER, STARTED PRETTY MUCH AT WOODSTOCK. I PROBABLY HAVE A LIST OF 30 SANTANA SONGS ON MY I-POD. MAYBE MORE.
5. BOB DYLAN. HAPPY 75TH. WHAT A WRITER. A LITTLE SHAKY AS A SINGER, BUT STILL. I CANNOT THINK OF A BETTER WRITER WHO HAS LIVED DURING MY TIME. HE LIVES ON A DIFFERENT PLANE. IN A DIFFERENT REALITY.
6. BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN AND THE E STREET BAND. I DIDN'T LIKE SPRINGSTEEN AT FIRST, BUT I GREW INTO HIM. THE BAND IS VERY VERSATILE. THE SAX PLAYER, CLARENCE CLEMONS, WAS ONE OF THE BEST. AFTER HIS DEATH, JAKE CLEMONS REPLACED HIS UNCLE. SPRINGSTEEN ALWAYS GIVES HIS ALL. A SUPERB GROUP. THE SONG: "IF I SHOULD FALL BEHIND," ONE OF THE BEST.
7.  THE DAVE MATTHEWS BAND. A GREAT STORYTELLER. I HAVE ABOUT 30 SONGS ON MY I-POD. MY FAVORITE: "GRAVE DIGGER." 
8. MUMFORD AND SONS. A NEWER GROUP. SLID ONTO MY LIST WITH SOME EXCELLENT SONGS.
9. LED ZEPPELIN. I'M A ROBERT PLANT FAN. I REALLY LIKE HIM WITH ALISON KRAUSS. THEY SING, "BLACK DOG." SERIOUSLY GOOD.
10. THE ROLLING STONES. COULDN'T PASS UP THOSE LIPS. THEY ARE STILL AT IT, WHICH IS UNBELIEVABLE. WHAT A STRING OF HITS. "SATISFACTION." "HONKY TONK WOMEN." PAINT IT BLACK." NEED I SAY MORE.

PEEVER LAW #11

CAPITALISM HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH DEMOCRACY AND EVERYTHING TO TO DO WITH PROFIT AND EXPLOITATION.

The TPP Has Always Been About Corporate Dominance, Not Trade or Economic Growth

The TPP Has Always Been About Corporate Dominance, Not Trade or Economic Growth



MORE CAPITALIST GREED.

With Women and Doctors in Danger, House GOP Called to End 'Witch Hunt'

With Women and Doctors in Danger, House GOP Called to End 'Witch Hunt'



A HOUSE FULL OF FOOLS

STOP THE NOSENSE, I WANT TO GET OFF

FACEBOOK IS FULL OF POLITICAL STUFF. MAKES ME WANT TO THROW UP. WHO IS THE BEST CANDIDATE: TRUMP. TRUMP COULDN'T WIN A HIGH-SCHOOL DEBATE. CLINTON. MORE OF THE SAME. SANDERS. PROBABLY MORE OF THE SAME, BUT LESS SO. THE HOUSE. FULL OF JOKERS. THE SENATE. FULL OF OLD MEN WHO HAVE SOLD THEMSELVES LIKE PROSTITUTES TO THE HIGHEST CORPORATE BIDDER. IF WASHINGTON VANISHED OVERNIGHT, WHAT A BREAK IT WOULD BE FOR ALL OF US. WELL, NOT FACEBOOK. FACEBOOK WOULD GO BELLY-UP WITH NOTHING TO SAY. POOR ZUCKERBERG.

PEEVER LAW #65

Most men vote the way their fathers did. Most women vote the way their husbands do. Or so it's said.

Guantánamo Prisoner, Never Convicted, To Be Released After Decade-Plus Detention

Guantánamo Prisoner, Never Convicted, To Be Released After Decade-Plus Detention



AH, THE SWEET SMELL OF INJUSTICE.

BETTER YOU DEAD THAN ME

I notice a lot of pickups with ramming bars in the front. Most of them are 4 wheel drive, super huge things. I suppose the reasons they are put there can be numerous, but the most vivid one that comes to my mind is if I hit you, you are going to die, not me. Lately I've seen ramming bars on semi's. They don't need a ramming bar to kill me, they are big enough to do the job without. While I can't fault the drivers for wanting to live, I have a hard time with their life being more valuable than mine. They are lucky I am not the Secretary of State for all 50 states, because those things would not be on any vehicles. I trust no current Secretary of State will do anything. They are all too  big of ass kissers. They wouldn't want to upset anyone. Particularly someone with a ramming bar.

BERNIE IS STILL THE ONE

THE DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY IS NOT NEAR OVER. DON'T LET ANYONE TELL YOU BERNIE IS OUT. LEAST OF ALL, THE DNC. BERNIE DOES MUCH BETTER AGAINST TRUMP. BERNIE IS THE PEOPLE'S PICK. HILLARY IS THE TIRED, OLD GUARD, DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE'S PICK. WHILE I DO NOT DISLIKE HILLARY, HILLARY IS OLD SCHOOL. HER BRAND OF POLITICS WILL NOT CHANGE WHAT NEEDS TO BE CHANGED. WHICH IS ALMOST EVERYTHING. MY VOTE IS BERNIE. STILL UNDECIDED IF I WOULD VOTE FOR HILLARY. POSSIBLY, ONLY OUT OF SELF-DEFENSE.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Work is about a search for daily meaning as well as daily bread, for recognition as well as cash, for astonishment rather than torpor; in short, for a sort of life rather than a Monday through Friday sort of dying.”
Studs Terkel

FRIDAY

End of week. Thank God. Good Friday. Good Friday wasn’t so good. But still. It’s beer and brats. And bull. Lots of it. Saturday is even better, except for honey-do’s. Not melons.

QUESTION OF THE DAY

IF EVERYTHING IS MADE IN CHINA, DOES THAT MAKE US CHINESE?

WAR CRIMINAL HONORED-ANOTHER OBAMA MISTAKE

'Terrifying' New National Poll Shows Trump and Clinton Statistically Tied

'Terrifying' New National Poll Shows Trump and Clinton Statistically Tied



She'll lose.

DREAMS

YOUR DREAMS ARE WORTH MORE THAN MONEY. I DREAMT ABOUT WINNING THE LOTTO. NOW WHAT?

What Principles Rule the World?

What Principles Rule the World?

No More Fig Leafs: Doctors Without Borders Rejects World Aid Summit, Rips U.N. For Ongoing War Crimes

No More Fig Leafs: Doctors Without Borders Rejects World Aid Summit, Rips U.N. For Ongoing War Crimes



PERPETUAL, NEVER ENDING WAR. WHAT IS IT GOOD FOR? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.

PEEVER LAW #71

EVERY GENERATION HAS ITS ISSUES. SO FAR, NONE DESERVE MUCH PRAISE.

Price for Witnessing Against War

Price for Witnessing Against War



POWER IS A VERY GENTLE THING.

SUNDAY MORNING HYMN: Gary Clark Jr - The Healing (Official Audio)

SUNDAY MORNING SERMON: I PUT A SPELL ON YOU

NO MORE WAR. FEED THE HUNGRY. HOUSE THE HOMELESS. UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE. NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT. SOLAR AND WIND ENERGY. SOCIAL DEMOCRACY. NO INDIVIDUAL WEALTH OVER 25 MILLION. FREE SPEECH. NO SPYING ON CITIZENS. NO MORE DESTRUCTION OF THE EARTH FOR PROFIT. NO GIVING MONEY TO DICTATORSHIPS. NO MORE POLLUTING THE OCEAN, STREAMS, OR YOUNG MINDS WITH RIGHT-WING BULLSHIT. NO MORE CORPORATE FUNDING OF ELECTIONS. NO MORE MACHINES TO COUNT VOTES. PAPER TRAIL. MONITORS AT POLLING PLACES. GOVERNMENT REGULATIONS WHERE THEY ARE NEEDED FOR CITIZEN PROTECTION. ENFORCED. TERM LIMITS. I PUT A SPELL ON YOU. CAUSE YOU'RE MINE.

SUNDAY MORNING HYMN: Gary Clark Jr. - Church (Official Audio)

SUNDAY MORNING PRAYER: CONFESSION

I AM MORE INTO DOING THAN I AM PRAYING. I SUPPOSE IF THE TRUTH WERE KNOWN, I’M MORE INTO WRITING ABOUT DOING THAN I AM DOING OR PRAYING. HUMAN FRAILTY. A LOT OF WORDS, LITTLE ACTION. IF I WERE BEING TRUTHFUL WITH MYSELF, I WOULD BE LIVING AMONG PEOPLE WHO ARE LIVING THE STRUGGLES I AM WRITING ABOUT. I LIVE AMONG THE RICH, WHICH MAKES ME ONE OF THEM. BUT I DON’T HAVE NEAR THE MONEY THEY HAVE. NO, THERE I GO AGAIN. I CAN’T SHAKE OFF THIS HUMAN FRAILTY: WANTING TO BE SOMETHING I’M NOT.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“The Democrats are the party that says government will make you smarter, taller, richer, and remove the crabgrass on your lawn. The Republicans are the party that says government doesn't work and then they get elected and prove it.”
P.J. O'Rourke, Parliament of Whores: A Lone Humorist Attempts to Explain the Entire U.S. Government

IS THIS A JOKE OR WHAT?

What the hell is going on? You look in one place, Hillary has all but won the primary. Look in another, and Bernie is within a win in California from taking the lead. I've never seen such crazy stupidity in the Democratic Party in all my life. The whole primary looks like a Republican National Convention. It's a disgrace. I'm embarrassed to call myself a Democrat, which I no longer do. Twenty years ago I went with Democratic Socialists. The Republican and Democratic parties are old news. And by no stretch of the imagination good news.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Don't exist.
Live.
Get out, explore.
Thrive.
Challenge authority. Challenge yourself.
Evolve.
Change forever.
Become who you say you always will. Keep moving. Don't stop. Start the revolution. Become a freedom fighter. Become a superhero. Just because everyone doesn't know your name doesn't mean you don't matter.
Are you happy? Have you ever been happy? What have you done today to matter? Did you exist or did you live? How did you thrive?
Become a chameleon-fit in anywhere. Be a rockstar-stand out everywhere. Do nothing, do everything. Forget everything, remember everyone. Care, don't just pretend to. Listen to everyone. Love everyone and nothing at the same time. Its impossible to be everything,but you can't stop trying to do it all.
All I know is that I have no idea where I am right now. I feel like I am in training for something, making progress with every step I take. I fear standing still. It is my greatest weakness.
I talk big, but often don't follow through. That's my biggest problem. I don't even know what to think right now. It's about time I start to take a jump. Fuck starting to take. Just jump-over everything. Leap.
It's time to be aggressive. You've started to speak your mind, now keep going with it, but not with the intention of sparking controversy or picking a germane fight. Get your gloves on, it's time for rebirth. There IS no room for the nice guys in the history books.
THIS IS THE START OF A REVOLUTION. THE REVOLUTION IS YOUR LIFE. THE GOAL IS IMMORTALITY. LET'S LIVE, BABY. LET'S FEEL ALIVE AT ALL TIMES. TAKE NO PRISONERS. HOLD NO SOUL UNACCOUNTABLE, ESPECIALLY NOT YOUR OWN. IF SOMETHING DOESN'T HAPPEN, IT'S YOUR FAULT.
Make this moment your reckoning. Your head has been held under water for too long and now it is time to rise up and take your first true breath.
Do everything with exact calculation, nothing without meaning. Do not make careful your words, but make no excuses for what you say. Fuck em' all. Set a goal for everyday and never be tired.”
Brian Krans, A Constant Suicide

I PUT A SPELL ON YOU

NO MORE WAR. FEED THE HUNGRY. HOUSE THE HOMELESS. UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE. NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT. SOLAR AND WIND ENERGY. SOCIAL DEMOCRACY. NO INDIVIDUAL WEALTH OVER 25 MILLION. FREE SPEECH. NO SPYING ON CITIZENS. NO MORE DESTRUCTION OF THE EARTH FOR PROFIT. NO GIVING MONEY TO DICTATORSHIPS. NO MORE POLLUTING THE OCEAN, STREAMS, OR YOUNG MINDS WITH RIGHT-WING BULLSHIT. NO MORE CORPORATE FUNDING OF ELECTIONS. NO MORE MACHINES TO COUNT VOTES. PAPER TRAIL. MONITORS AT BALLOT PLACE. GOVERNMENT REGULATIONS WHERE THEY ARE NEEDED FOR CITIZEN PROTECTION. ENFORCED. TERM LIMITS. I PUT A SPELL ON YOU. CAUSE YOU'RE MINE.

Sanders Momentum Evidence of Dems' Need to Embrace "Bold Agenda for Change"

Sanders Momentum Evidence of Dems' Need to Embrace "Bold Agenda for Change"



HILLARY WILL ONLY BE MORE OF THE SAME. WE WILL BE LUCKY TO GET THE CHANGE WE NEED WITH BERNIE. 

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Whiskey is for drinking; water is for fighting over.”
Mark Twain

Gripped by Climate Disruption, World on Brink of Global Water Crisis

Gripped by Climate Disruption, World on Brink of Global Water Crisis

WATER

Water.  For sale to the highest bidder. Fresh. Sweet. Not brown. No lead. Expensive. No ownership. God sent. Free. The new rich man’s gold. Don’t be stupid. Revolution pending.

ISRAEL

ISRAEL HAS BECOME ONE OF GOD'S FEW MISTAKES. I KNOW THAT BECAUSE I RECENTLY SAW A BAPTIST CHURCH SUPPORTING THEM. ODD AND SCARY.

'Today Marks the End of TTIP': Greenpeace Leak Exposes Corporate Takeover

'Today Marks the End of TTIP': Greenpeace Leak Exposes Corporate Takeover



THE PLAN FOR CAPITALISM TO RULE THE WORLD.