For the 1sttime in the History of this country, WeThePeople, specifically ThePeople of the Democratic persuasion have offered up, as their Party’s choice to have a Go at the WhiteHouse, someone other than a middle to old aged AngloSaxonMan. That makes my Soul smile, that makes my petrified patriotism begin to crack & soften, that ever so slightly improves the entrenched feelings of hopelessness I attach to the ElectionProcess & the VotingPublic. It has been officially 232years since the 1st bricks were laid in the foundation of this Country, of this Experiment, & those 1st bricks were mixed, formed & placed by African imported black-skinned Slaves…232years later, after America’s “OriginalSin”, a black-skinned African descendant is 1 of 2 people left in place to inherit TheThrone inside the Castle of FreeNations & OpenSocieties…It’s about damn time.
It obviously would have been a historic result either way, very different versions, but historic nonetheless, with Clinton or Obama…But Obama did it with poise & aplomb, with a convex intellectual serenity, with a bulletproof vest of charm & charisma, with a certain calm amidst the swirl of History…Mister B.Obama aka “Rack-O”, prounounced “Rocko” (Could that work? “Rack-O” as 1 of these celebrity tabloid mag abbreviations ((for the slower crowd - barRACK Obama)) “Rack-O”, probably not, ok)…But Obama did it, He wrapped it up, wrassled’ it down & is now treading lightly sideways. He jetplaned across the AmericanSkyscape sprinkling his MojoDust from SanDiego to SanJuan, from Sandusky to Sanibel Island, smiling, orating, charming, inspiring & ripping that stinking sense of Entitlement right out of Hillary’s clutches, planting a firm Flag on the SouthLawn advertising & foretelling of a new brand of Politics, a turning over of the dry infertile political soil in DirtCity, recalibrating the dials, redrawing the maps, replowing the fields, reinventing the textures, tones & tenors of the most influential vantage point in TheWorld…
MissHillary & her dummy Husband really showed their collective Ass this year. The ClintonDuo sadly managed to demonstrate with everyday that passed, a new way to do & say anything to anyone to get that Nomination…Promising more & larger agricultural subsidies to the Farmers of the Cornbelt, promising a rethinking of our TradeAgreements to the BlueCollars & Unioners of our textile & factory regions, & the most disingenuous political promise, I thought, was to the people of PuertoRico, promising Statehood, if elected…Sure, whatta joke right?...I think she would have promised her daughter up for pillaging, if that was what was required to win…It was crystalline desperation in the face & shadow of a NewMovement assembling in politics, in the shadow of a new Sun rising & shining over the eastern horizons of the Atlantic waters, its hopeful Rays purposefully bathing & exfoliating the slimy epidermis of the SnakeSkin that is our federal government…Impregnating the Halls of Power with a youthful exuberance & progressive posture, a reinvigoration of purpose, origin & destination, a “houseflipping” at 1600Pennsylavania, a restoration of a government power structure in disrepair & disrepute, the result of lifetimes of neglect & self dealing…I have said it before & I will say it again…Mr.Buttersmooth, Rack-O, is the perfect antidote, the tailormade customfit answer, to the Disease that has infested, ravaged & corrupted our once respected & inspirational political mechanisms.
►My DreamTeam scenario for the Ticket: B.Obama & JuniorSenator from Virginia, MisterJimmyWebb…MissHillary should be appointed the Secretary of Health & Human Services (HHS) & work her HealthcarePlan through the System.
EditorsNote: What appears below is the Story of TravisTwiggs. It is not the FullStory, only StaffSergeantTwiggs knows the FullStory… This however, is the partial Story of a Man, a Father, a Son, a Brother, a Husband, a Marine, a 4toured Veteran, a thoughtful Commander, a friendly Teacher, a compassionate Protector, a fearless Fighter, an inspiring Leader…& a tragic Victim…A Victim of his own Experiences, & maybe a victim of the agency of VeteransAffairs, an agency that does not have a firm grip on exactly how to medically handle, care for & treat the ServiceMen & Women that return Home from “Theatre” grappling with the sometime insurmountable burdens living inside their own Memories, inside the Catacombs of a Psyche drenched in Violence & Chaos, returning Stateside from War suffering the torments of loss & trauma, returning Home cognitively caught hostage by a battalion of internal conflicts & competing moralities & emotions, competing self-interests & selfless interests, returning Home unable anymore to lean against the adrenaline, pace, camaraderie & brotherhood of TheWar, unable to cling to the emotional buoy of the “shared adversity” Military personnel experience in Theatre…But instead returning Home faced with the debilitating notion of standing alone on an Island of Introspection, and even more frightening to realize the notion They are unequipped with the tools to overcome TheDemons that are Hellbent on destroying Them from within…
Below is a HumanStory, but specifically it is a US Veterans’ Story, a Story told in 3Parts, from 3different points of View…1st from the point of view of my little Brother who served under the Command of SSgtTwiggs…The 2nd point of view is from TravisTwiggs himself – a jawdropping journal he wrote & published in the Marine Corps Gazette this past January – only 5months ago…Detailing, with desperate honesty, rational lucidity & stark self-awareness, his unrelenting Battle with PostTraumaticStressDisorder…& the 3rd point of view is from an AssociatedPress journalist from Tucson.Arizona, who happened to be the guy, hired by a news collection corporation, called out to the Desert, & charged with writing a 750Word clip describing the final scenes of MarineTwiggs last Battle with a Disorder that needs much more attention from each individual branch of the AmericanMilitary, from the Pentagon broadly, from Congress & WhiteHouse, from MilitaryFamilies, & the AmericanPopulation at large…StaffSergeantTwiggs Story needs to be read, heard, understood, & acknowledged, it should act as a catalyst that inspires a closer look by the Parties mentioned above…Historically, as a Country, as a Government, We have made conscious choices that have slowly pushed our US Veterans to the Fringes, 20% or 160,000 of this Country’s 800,000Homeless are former Soldiers of War…The VA, is an overwhelmed, underfunded, bureaucratic Blob of governmental stagnation & ineffectiveness, but I am beginning to drift from The Story of TravisTwiggs…A reminder: As of yesterday, May18th.2008, there have been 4,080 US ServiceMembers killed in Iraq…MarineTwiggs will not be included in that Number…
►Part1.SettingTheRecordStraight
A true tragedy...
From: MisterArteest’sBrother
Sent: Fri 5.16.08 6:16am
To: arteest@email.com; w.matkins@email.com; arteestdad@email.com
A great man has taken his life this week, a man I often looked to for advice as I have looked to each of you.
My point in sharing this story is to set the record straight...he was a great man and a better Marine. He was an "OAK", a man who truly stood for something and was a casualty of war, NOT a weak man who went crazy. Please don't be mistaken...he was a leader who commanded respect and lead from the front, he simply could not get over losing Marines in his charge. There are few men in life that one chooses to look up to as I look up to each of you, he was another on this very short list of great men. He taught me many things of life and compassion and strength and I fear his greatness is now in question. Please know that he was a hero...not a crazy gunman...or a crazy Marine...He was an injured war fighter that experienced some very violent things and wanted nothing more but to be a good leader, friend, husband, and father.
Cheers to Staff Sergeant Travis Twiggs, the HERO. He is lost but never forgotten. His teachings will stay with me forever.
Semper Fi
___________________________________________
►►Part2.TheCryForHelp
PTSD: The War Within
A Marine writes about his PTSD experience
By SSgt Travis N. Twiggs
All in all I made four trips over to the “sandbox.” It was upon returning from my second trip that I began to notice “changes” in myself. By changes I mean I was more irritable, paranoid for no reason, unable to sleep, and had trouble focusing when around other people. At the time my wife and I agreed that I would not deploy again for a while. Well, after about 1 month at home, I began yearning to go back. The Marines and sailors in my charge were asking me daily to go back with them. So late one night I approached my wife with my idea of returning to Iraq. She began to cry and said that I should go, bring the boys home safely, and get this out of my system. From that day forward, my symptoms went away. After all, I was going back to the fight, back to shared adversity, where the tempo is high and our adrenaline pulses through our veins like hot blood. It is in this place that there is no time for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
That third trip did not go as planned. I lost two Marines less than 2 months after arriving in theater. I cannot describe what a leader feels when he does not bring everyone home. To make matters even worse, I arrived at the welcome home site only to find that those two Marines’ families were waiting to greet me as well. I remember thinking, “Why are they here?” From then on my life began to spiral downward. Not only did I have orders to transfer to Quantico and would have to deal with the stress of moving my family, but I was also experiencing the loss of the two Marines, having to communicate with their families, and saying goodbye to my platoon while dealing with my PTSD, which was back with a vengeance.
I checked into my new command about 11/2 months later. My first day was painful. I couldn’t seem to function around others. The sergeant major sent me home and told me to be standing outside his door at 0700 the following morning. The next morning arrived and the sergeant major told me to come into his office and take a seat. He asked me if I knew what PTSD was. He then told me that I had it bad and asked me if I knew how he knew this? I replied, “No, I don’t,” and he responded that it was because he had it too — that he could see himself in me. That afternoon I checked myself into the medical clinic. While I was there I met a physician’s assistant named Laurie Giertz. She had a list hanging on her wall of 10 symptoms Marines experience upon returning from combat. She asked me to read them and tell her if I had any of them. To this day I don’t know why I answered her, but I told her that I had all of them. Before I left I was prescribed Zoloft for mood and Trazadone for sleep. The plan was to get me to calm down, have some good rest, and then begin therapy.
As the months progressed we altered the medications. At times the medications did not seem to do anything, or the side effects were intensifying. To be completely honest though, we may have had the right drug mixture, but she didn’t know that I was mixing the medications with alcohol every night. I returned to Iraq for my fourth tour shortly afterward, and I was only at the clinic for a couple of weeks. But those couple of weeks were the most peaceful I had experienced all year. All of my symptoms were gone, and I was sleeping well every night. Once again the common factors were shared adversity, with increased tempo, high adrenaline flow, and an environment in which any thoughts about PTSD would take my focus away from my mission.
When I arrived back in the States, it was as though I had never left. All of my symptoms were back, and now I was in the process of destroying my family. This was all taking place because I did not understand what was happening to me. My situation worsened, if you can believe that. I started neglecting my work, and my answer for everything was alcohol. All could see that I was in trouble, and everyone wanted to help. They became increasingly concerned and had no choice in what they would do next. I backed them into a corner and they reacted. I was transported to Bethesda Naval Hospital for detoxification and to try to stabilize my vitals. I remained there for about 3 days and then lied my way out the front door. Needless to say, my command was furious!
For about 10 days I managed to convince them that I was better, at least I thought I had. Well, I ended up back in Bethesda, and this time I was in a locked ward where I would remain for 2 weeks. At Bethesda I was not exactly a model patient. I was experiencing psychosis where I would fight my way through the hallways and clear rooms as if I were back in theater. The hospital police would have to be called in to secure me. This was not going over very well with my command members either.
Upon completion of my 2-week stay, I was asked if Iwould be interested in attending a PTSD program at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). I agreed to the move and off I went. Remember the two medicines I told you about? At one point while I was at the VA, I was up to 12 different medications a day. I saw several doctors throughout all of this, and it seemed that each one had a different medicine. I often wondered if they ever talked with each other. During my stay at the VA, I managed to get into three automobile accidents, and I was experiencing visual and audible hallucinations that I firmly believe were a direct result of being overmedicated. On any given day I was sad, mad, or depressed. I often felt that I was weak and not worthy of calling myself a Marine anymore. I slept covered in sweat every night and constantly shook uncontrollably. I got to the point where I believed PTSD was nothing more than an acronym created for weak Marines.
The true horror of war is coming home without all of your Marines, because at some point you have to look at yourself in the mirror and wonder, “Did I give them my all?” “Did I train them to the best of my ability?” I could not answer yes to either question. I still can’t and wonder if I ever will. About 11/2 months into the program, somehow I went from 12 medications down to 4 overnight, and I don’t believe anyone knew. I desperately wanted off all of them, though. Within a couple of days, everything started becoming clearer to me. I successfully completed the VA’s 3-month PTSD program, and I stopped taking all medications with the exception of two.
When I returned to my command, I was offered an instructor’s position at the Martial Arts Center of Excellence. Their reasoning for this offer was to give me time to heal mentally, physically, and spiritually. They also thought that getting me out of the office environment and putting me around Marines again would help as well. They were right. The shared adversity of the Marine Corps Martial Arts Program (MCMAP) has helped me get my life back on track. Every day is a better day now. As my body and mind grow stronger through the synergies of MCMAP, so does my spirit. I see everything so much differently now. Looking back, I don’t believe anyone is to blame for my craziness, but I do think we can do better. We have got to make our Marines and sailors more aware of PTSD before they end up like me and others. The following is what I learned:
• Medicine alone will not calm PTSD symptoms. Therapy is a
must, and it has to be done with others who have experienced the
same war or conflict. In other words, veterans of Operation
IRAQI FREEDOM should not be undergoing therapy with
Vietnam or Operation DESERT STORM veterans. The
symptoms are the same, but the time periods are different.
• Alcohol and pills don’t mix. The Marine/sailor should never be
told that moderate alcohol consumption is acceptable.
• It is okay to mourn those you’ve lost, but remember, they don’t
want you to be sad. They want you to celebrate their lives.
• PTSD is not a weakness. It is a normal reaction to a very violent
situation.
• I firmly believe that a lot of my problems were caused by
overmedication. The medication affected my judgment and my
ability to cope with the true issues that haunted me. I also have
since suffered from a seizure, which is believed to have occurred
from the same cause. So, ensure that the Marines/sailors know
that it is okay to question the amount of medications they are
taking and why.
• Place more emphasis on the post-deployment health
questionnaire all Marines/sailors have to fill out before leaving
theater. I remember Marines being told that if they marked “yes”
to anything, it would cause problems with their taking leave.
They don’t know that PTSD is not even noticeable until they
come home. Marines/ sailors should fill out these questionnaires
honestly when they get back in garrison, and they need to know
that it is okay if they are experiencing difficulties readjusting.
• Leaders should sit down with their Marines/sailors prior to
releasing them for leave and cite different examples of PTSD
so that they know what to expect and how to recognize the
symptoms. When they return from leave, leaders should get them
enrolled in as many schools as they can. Regardless of whether
they can get them into the schools or not, leaders should set up a
well-planned schedule for them.
• Every leader knows that the best way to begin the day is with
physical training. It is a fact that physical fitness stimulates both
the mind and the body. This statement doesn’t mean you have to
run 3 miles every day. Leaders should incorporate running the
obstacle course with martial arts training or even just a simple drill
that enhances combat conditioning. Whether this training is done
for individual competition or as a team event, everyone will be able
to achieve shared adversity.
►One of our leadership principles is to know our Marines and look out for their welfare. They deserve this, and we owe it to them. With that being said, I leave you with this final thought from former Commandant, Gen James L. Jones:
“Ensure that no Marine who honorably wore the Eagle, Globe,
and Anchor is lost to the Marine Corps Family. “
►Author’s Note: This article is dedicated to the memory of CPL's Robert F. Eckfield, Jr. and Jared J. Kremm.
►SSgt Twiggs enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1993 and went through recruit training at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island. He served as an 0311, infantry rifleman, and deployed to Afghanistan for Operation ENDURING FREEDOM in 2002 and three times in support of Operation IRAQI FREEDOM between 2003 and 2006.
The best thing that happened to me, and what has really helped me in my recovery, is my assignment to the Marine Corps Martial Arts Center of Excellence. I immediately started conducting physical training again and quickly got back into decent shape. As you know, a fit body contributes to a strong and fit spirit. I am back doing what I do best and what brings me the most enjoyment—training Marines and sailors.
One of the skills that I picked up in the hospital was how to cope with PTSD. Because of these skills, life with my family is wonderful again. Don’t get me wrong; the PTSD is not completely gone. There can be a helicopter passing by or a loud noise or even certain words and it will remind me of the past. It’s just that now I know how to deal with it.
I pray that no Marine or sailor, or any service member for that matter, ever has to go through what I went through. If you have any of these symptoms and you can’t get help, you can always contact me, regardless of your rank. That is what it is all about right? Each year on 10 November we pass the piece of cake from oldest to youngest, symbolizing the passing of knowledge. My e-mail is travis.twiggs@usmc.mil, and I will help anyone in need.
______________________________________________________
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►►►Part3.TheTragicEnd
Marine who died after police chase had PTSD
By Arthur H. Rotstein - The Associated Press
Friday May 16, 2008 10:59:57 EDT
TUCSON, Ariz. — A decorated Marine Corps staff sergeant who apparently fatally shot his brother before killing himself at the end of a long police chase had served multiple tours in Iraq and had written about coping with post-traumatic stress disorder. Pinal County Sheriff’s spokesman Mike Minter said no motive has been established for why Travis N. “T-Bo” Twiggs, 36, killed his 38-year-old brother Willard J. “Will” Twiggs and then himself on Wednesday. Nor is it known why both brothers earlier in the week may have tried to commit suicide by attempting to drive their car into the Grand Canyon.
Reached at home in Louisiana Thursday, the father of both men declined to talk to a reporter, and their stepmother did not return a phone call. Travis Twiggs’ wife, Kellee, told KNXV-TV in Phoenix that her husband was on various medications and couldn’t sleep at times. “He was a really good person, and a great Marine,” she said. Staff Sgt. Travis Twiggs, who enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1993, wrote a lengthy article in the January issue of the Marine Corps Gazette detailing his efforts to deal with PTSD.
Twiggs served three tours of combat duty in Iraq and one in Afghanistan and held the combat action ribbon. He wrote that he “began to notice ‘changes’ in myself” after returning from his second duty tour. Those changes included being “more irritable, paranoid for no reason, unable to sleep” and having trouble focusing when he was around other people, he said. His symptoms disappeared when he decided to return for a third tour, but recurred on coming back home again — which is when a sergeant major recognized that he was suffering from PTSD. Twiggs described subsequent treatment with medications and his efforts to circumvent them, including his use of alcohol.
The symptoms disappeared yet again when he returned to Iraq for his fourth tour, he wrote, but worsened when he came home again. “All of my symptoms were back, and now I was in the process of destroying my family,” he wrote. He described going through hospital detoxification, experiencing psychosis in a locked ward and a stay in a PTSD program at the Department of Veterans Affairs. “My only regrets are how I let my command down after they had put so much trust in me and how I let my family down by pushing them away,” he wrote. Twiggs urged others suffering from similar problems to seek assistance and offered to help “anyone in need” himself.
Most recently, Twiggs was assigned to the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory at Quantico, Va., but he wrote that what had helped in his recovery was assignment to the Marine Corps Martial Arts Center of Excellence. A spokesman at Quantico, 1st Lt. Brian Donnelly, said the corps is committed to providing full medical, psychological and social support to anyone with a combat-related injury, including PTSD, through organizations such as the Wounded Warrior Regiment and local deployment health clinics. “Our leaders are trained to be alert for signs of PTSD in their Marines and to provide a supportive climate in which Marines can feel comfortable seeking help.” Travis Twiggs had been absent without leave since May 5.
On Wednesday, Twiggs and his brother led law enforcement agents on a chase across more than 80 miles of Interstate 8 after speeding away from a Border Patrol checkpoint in southwestern Arizona. They triggered the chase by failing to pull into a secondary inspection area when their behavior aroused agents’ suspicions, Border Patrol spokesman Michael Bernacke said. After officers with the Tohono O’odham Police Department placed spike strips on the interstate, the car continued for about a mile. Law enforcement officers and Border Patrol agents heard two shots as they approached the disabled car, and after several moments moved into position and found both men slumped forward and dead.
The Twiggs had been sought since a carjacking Monday night within Grand Canyon National Park. They were in the carjacked vehicle when they died.
They are believed to have crashed their car at the canyon’s edge and then walked away from the scene hours before a Florida couple had their car stolen at gunpoint. They declined offers of help, walking off with large backpacks, witnesses told park rangers. Park spokeswoman Shannan Marcak said that based on the car’s position, investigators believe the men may have tried to drive off the road and into the canyon. The car was hung up on a tree that kept it from going over the edge, they said.
► “The Lord’s Prayer is only 50 words long, and 6 of those words are devoted to asking God not to lead us into temptation. The 1 sided contemplative leaves undone many things that he ought to do; but to make up for it, he refrains from doing a host of things he ought not to do. The sum of evil, Pascal remarked, would be much diminished if men could only learn to sit quietly in their rooms. The contemplative (the person) whose perception has been cleansed does not have to stay in his room. He can go about his business, so completely satisfied to see and be a part of the divine Order of Things that he will never even be tempted to indulge in what Traherne called the ‘dirty devices of the world’. When we feel ourselves to be sole heirs of the universe, when the sea flows in our veins…and the stars are our jewels, when all things are perceived as infinite and holy, what motive can we have for covetousness or self-assertion, for the pursuit of power or the drearier forms of pleasure? Contemplatives are not likely to become gamblers, or procurers, or drunkards; they do not as a rule preach intolerance, or make war; do not find it necessary to rob, swindle or grind the faces of the poor. And to these enormous negative virtues we may add another which, though hard to define, is both positive and important. The quietist may not practice contemplation in its fullness; but if they practice it at all, they may bring back enlightening reports of another, a transcendent country of the mind; and if they practice it in the height, they will become conduits through which some beneficent influence can flow out of that other country into a world of darkened selves, chronically dying for the lack of it.”
~ AldousHuxley.TheDoorsOfPerception.1954 ►►“Today the precept had swallowed up the concept.” ~ AldousHuxley.TheDoorsOfPerception.1954 ►►►“What is the Dharma-Body* of the Buddha?” The question asked in a Zen Monastery by an earnest & bewildered novice. Promptly, the Zen Master replies, “The hedge at the bottom of the garden.” The novice then asks, “And the Man that realizes this truth, what is he?” “A golden-haired Lion,” the Master replies. * The “Dharma-Body” refers to the Mind or Philosophy or Suchness or the conceptual underpinnings of…
After struggling to reach an Inspiration, after going through the motions of my usual process to either be inspired or to hope to have inspiration find me, neither happened…No 1Subject, 1Topic or 1Question set my Loins afire…So, I thought I would go exploring, maybe just hopping in, turning the key, jamming it into 1stgear, smashing the accelerator & start driving across the topography of my Imagination…
Without a Destination, like an unproven ConceptCar stretching the integrity of its own experimental engineering, out over the endless Hills between Napa & SonomaValley or over the sharp angles of the ContinentalDivide, or toward the hazy horizon, into the tropical pastel sunsets of the flat Florida highways…Taking it all in, collecting Images of an AmericanCountryside that reminds my Faculties, re-informs my sensibilities of the expansive Beauty that seems to infinitely unfold in all Directions, the symphonic rapture of the floral, botanical & geological diversity & assimilation, the Harmony that rolls out over TheEarth’s skin like an interactive HieronymousBosch painting, that NaturalOrder I often vaguely & mystically refer, the deepbreathed soulful cleansing & recalibration of a CityBoy’s heart & relationships...So I shift from 3rd down to 2nd, & digress…& divest my investment, with every step forward toward the Incandescent…
DirtCity aka the GreatTreadmill, has me deep in a snooze, snoring out an apathetic hopeless nasally gurgle, GeorgieTheFool & all his Folly, has simply exhausted my IntellectualStamina, his capacity for Stupidity & Thoughtlessness has far exceeded my capacity to keep up, comment or critique, so when I read about all his sordid moves, I can only turn ThePage or scroll past or turn TheChannel or look down at my navel & move my Head side to side, as if I am watching a TennisMatch in my lap…So things that would, only 2years ago, consume Me, do not anymore…Events like the Pentagon finally releasing the 81page LegalMemo drafted by Bush footsoldier, administration attorney & all around eggsucking dog JohnYoo, inside the 4Corners of these 81pages therein proffers & outlines a LegalCover for Bush & Vader, a LegalCover that freed Them both up, unbuckling themselves from the tethers of Morality, releasing themselves from off the Hooks of the Constitution…On March14th.2003, when this LegalMemo hit the OvalOffice desk, it provided for the unsophisticated sensibilities of a TexasHalfwit & a mumbling Android from Wyoming, the legal elbow room to coolly bend down, lace up their Sh*tkickers & commence the Constitutional trounce & trample…Up & down the sacrosanct backbone of our once progressive & communal Country, up & down ThePreamble, the Articles of Power, the Bill of Rights & subsequent 17Amendments, this LegalDocument allowed these 2 yellowbellied DraftDodgers the occasion to coolly unzip their patriotic trousers, whip out there d*cks, to piss on our InternationalTreaties & Agreements with TheWorld, LegalCover for Bush & Vader to camp out under, issuing orders of Torture, Rendition & Surveillance…Concepts found in & exercised by most FascistDictatorships spanning the Globe…These kneejerk, blunt, unilateral dictatorial Reactions have briskly bled Us out of decades, centuries of hardboiled, plodding, methodical, well-earned national Credibility & Respect…LegalCover that is a wrongheaded litany of convoluted circumventions & rationale, labyrinthian legal defenses for GeorgieTheFool to fold in half & stick in his inside SuitJacket pocket, then turning to his FootSoldiers & authorizing the waterboarded, headslapping interrogation of anyone He may select…TheRapidLoss of the MoralHighGround will prove to be our most serious problem of foreign & domestic Policy in the Years upon Our doorstep, in TheFallout that will ensue, TheAftermath, once TheDope leaves Office & runs for other “Cover” inside a bombproof ranch in the TexasWoods…
Or revelations of how ModernPoliticians, when running for Office of a local or national kind, inevitably bilk, scam & steal from their own Campaign coffers…This (lawful, I must note) Scheme starts by TheCandidate placing their FamilyMembers in high places of their “CampaignStaff”, a Staff that receives a substantial salary for their modest effort in a long campaign cycle, in turn skimming 10’s, 100’s of Thousands of Dollars from the public Donations to the respective Campaign, diverting it into the bank accounts of their very own Wives, Daughters, Uncles, Nephews & SonInLaws…To call some of these Hustlers out, some of the more severe Offenders:
►DemocraticSenator from California, BarbaraBoxer, paid her son Douglas $320,409.17 in campaign donations through his company Douglas Boxer & Associates from 2001 to 2006. Douglas Boxer is a lawyer & a 10Year veteran of her political team.
►RepublicanSenator from Wyoming, MikeEnzi, paid his daughter-in-law DanielleEnzi $306,718.18 from his campaign accounts over the same period. She was a fundraiser before she married into the Enzi family.
►RepublicanSenator from Kentucky, JimBunning, paid his daughter Amy Towles $138,933.37 over 6Years. Bunning's office said it was for campaign accounting…
& TheRats run TheRace…
I would be remiss if I didn’t include a blurb about our 3rdBranch of Government, about the JudicialSystem getting it right, this time, when the 3rdCircuitCourt of Appeals a couple weeks ago issued a Decision in favor of former BlackPanther & AntiEstablishment CultClassic MumiaAbuJamal, ordering a new penalty hearing or sentencing hearing for the Man, TheCourt citing clear racial biases by the Judge & Prosecuters in his original Trial of 1982 in Philadelphia…As the Chant goes,”Free MumiaAbuJamal ! Free Em’ All !...Free MumiaAbuJamal ! Free Em’ All !”
Or even the most recent & dramatic Event of the FoolAdministration changing the WhiteHouse’s official position on GlobalWarming & carbon & greenhouse gas emission capping…This is notable, because this particular WhiteHouse only flips on an official position, especially on an Issue as large as this, ONLY when there is literally nowhere else to go…ONLY when the TheDope’s InnerCircle finally realizes they are SO wrong, SO out of step with Reality, when they realize not even a flimsy legal branch written by JohnYoo is available to grab hold, does the WhiteHouse do this…So quite astonishing, by Bush TheIdiot’s subterranean standards…Put TheAnger in a bubble & blow it away…
It sure must be nice to live in a consequenceless Environment, an Environment in which 1persons’ decisions have such far-reaching effect, millions of People, locally to globally, rightly or wrongly…& not in any case ever, not even once, not 1time, do those very People ever issue a decision that affects that 1person, in any real way, ever-never, & that is TheRub…It’s a 1way flow of consequences…WeThePeople get more upset with a CabDriver who may have overcharged Us a couple Dollars on the drive to the airport, than We do at a Man & his minions, committing crimes of the abstract & crimes of multi-national devastation, in the highest Reaches of Government with consequences & reverberations still rolling out across seismographs everywhere, tremors of consequences felt by everyone…It is the abstract nature of the crimes Bush & Vader have committed & continue to commit, that deflect public & congressional scrutiny, the qualities of intangibility that seem to pacify inquiry…Marching a Country to War with deception as its footing is not as obvious or as imminently impactful as watching a middle-aged Woman get mugged in an alley, purse snatched, punched in the face & pushed in a puddle, but I would ask all of You…Which is more of a crime? Which crime has the larger footprint? Because a crime is less obvious to ferret out, compared to a crime unfolding before You, does it make the less obvious crime a lesser offense? Which crime is worse? Simply put…The crime committed intangibly in the abstract over the course of months to years, or the horrors of a crime witnessed by yer own eyes, in realtime?…So we sit silent & pitiful, & TheDope sits among his AssKissers & SecretServiceGoons… WeThePeople sit pat & docile in the face of a Man ill-equipped to handle the Levers of Power that jut out in front of Him, as he steers our Superliner aground…We misdirect our Anger & He misdirects the Ship…Consequenceless… Such an incongruent equation…& all the while, TheRats run TheRace…& we all know, I’m sure with unfortunate intimacy, “TheRace” we all run as Rats within, is fraught with Peril, is a gauntlet of Guillotines, an obstacle course of Consequences…& those Fraudsters in DirtCity continue their selfdealing & personal enrichment, free of TheGauntlet, free of Consequences…Again, 2Years ago, these subjects would have been microscopically addressed with a vitriolic & whistleblowing Energy, with a dedicated spotlighting, a more full Analysis & recitation…But not these Days…Just a passing mention, maybe because my Time is, with everyday that passes, becoming more personally precious, which makes Me use my Freetime more selectively, & 9 times out of 10, matters of DirtCity or GeorgieTheDope lose, fail to set my Loins aflame…I have realized the effort I may have wanted to put forth, was not worthy of the effort itself, so in search of a more useful satisfaction, I turn to other Areas…
Like Music. & a particular Musician. AA Bondy. Record: American Hearts. RecordLabel: FatPossumRecords…For an old-fashioned goodtime, for an introspective drive down TheRoad, for a starry-skied cabride down MainStreet, for an abstractly solemn saunter down a willow tree-lined MemoryLane, for a simple southern profundity, for a HickoryDickoryDock metered Poetry that will leave you speechlessly charmed, slowrolling Music for all ages & all People…There might be 1 or 2 songs that aren’t appropriate for Everyone, but I would be suspicious of any serious Musician that didn’t offend Someone at least once…Get AA Bondy, “American Hearts”…
There is 1 other distinct reason this particular Musician & his Record clearly stand out among the Lineup of UsualSuspects, it is undoubtedly the TitleTrack: “American Hearts”…TheSong is an InstantClassic, an instant EyeOpener, in the classic ProtestSong format of the 60’s & early 70’s, the same conceptual over & undertones, no modern additions, the same traditional setup: an acoustic guitar, harmonica & an occasional snare & kick drum, & occasional electric guitar, but most magical musical moments are Bondy’s poetry, stories & his romantically subtle patriotic point of view, his acoustic, his harp & his half raspy half hollow croon…Like I just mentioned, it is a subtle ProtestSong, or even a subtle PeaceSong, Bondy doesn’t scream into TheMic for 5minutes whailing out “…Freedom!... Freeeedom!..Freedommm!...” as RichieHavens did so powerfully, thrashing his acoustic strings, sitting in his chair on stage at Woodstock…Bondy focuses on the compassionate posture everyday Americans should take in allowing 1another the space to speak freely, & not rush to an unpatriotic judgement when 1 may think differently…Bondy doesn’t employ a wordspinning sardonic humor, like that of the brilliance that is CountryJoe & TheFish on “Whoopee We’re All Going to Die!”…BobbyDylan’s artful “Blowin’ In the Wind”, JoanBaez, TheBeatles, & Lennon, on & on…WHERE IN THE HELL HAS BEEN ALL THE PROTEST SONGS ?!?!...Welp, after having 30years elapse between the last crop of RebelLeaders, & after 6years of contemporaneous War, We can finally add another notch on the musical headboard of hall of fame quality ProtestSongs, AABondy & his ditty “American Hearts”…
To back up a bit, ever since the 1stBombs were dropped on Baghdad, March20.2003, this War in Iraq has had many moving parts, & 1 moving part that never quite started to move, to emerge was the speak-truth-to-power ProtestSongs…Why is this? Have our Musicians gone Corporate in the new millenium? Have the once mercurial & defiant parables of the musically righteous been replaced with the calculated formulas & choreography of the young company Men & Women with inaudible instruments, bowing downdog to their CorporateMasters? Oh yes, our Musicians have shown stark Fear & cowardly silence in the face of the idea of politically pissing off a particular slice of the sales demographic pie chart, the 1st rule of the record selling business, of the entertainment business, sh*t, the 1st rule of Business broadly is: Never limit yer revenue stream. If a musician or entertainer wants to go off script & maybe advocate what might be perceived temporarily by a few in the consuming public as unpatriotic or AntiAmerican, then that is forbidden, because it quite obviously limits the revenue stream, yer free thinking actions inevitably will offend some microsection out here among the enclaves of the Circus sideshows… & that doesn’t “move units”, as the IndustryReps say…The RecordLabel needs you to move units, if you don’t move units, the modern Musician gets dropped from the rotation of Excess & Utopia, & quickly transforms back to a broke Billygoat…All for trying to create something that could be perceived as anti-trendy, yet substantively adventurous & important…I guess AA Bondy didn’t get TheMemo. Or if he did, he decided to politely disregard the corporate directives, & instead run the risk of actually being an Individual, with an opinion, with a position, with the courage to express how they feel, in such an effective way that it, by unintended consequences, provokes others to feel inadequate.
► Here is a Link to a YouTube video performance of MisterBondy, the 2ndSong played on the 7minute clip is “American Hearts”, the song I spoke of above…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJw17smL-x4&feature=related
►► & shifting gears once again, I had the occasion to be visiting a Friends’House last week, a house which provided me a rejuvenation zone & the most scenic of landscapes…& I’ve been trying to write more Poetry of late, so this is the result…Mahalo.
► BeforeTheWinterWindow
If 2 of Us is 3, & 3 of Us is Me,
Then 4 peeks through the NurseryDoor…
If snow flows in, & flow grows thin,
Then a fence is the comfort we all shiver within…
If Time is Age, & Age grows sage,
Then Time is measured by the locks on the cage …
If a tree stands lonely among a forest of wood,
& a Man stands bonely among skeletons of good,
Then caution you should, with the Man slightly crooked behind the black hood…
If Poverty is stored below the floorboards,
& the floorboards are sealed & ignored by the Tour,
Then more blood becomes sport, more supported by TheCourts…
But heed not the jewels that shimmer & shine
Or the fools with the tools that hack at the vine
Need the seed, heed the Creed, read the Deed,
& honor the circadian honor of freeing the Divine
Before the WinterWindow, order has been restored
Such is Life, such is the Gored,
Such is America…Amen, in the year of our Lord.
EditorsNote: The month of March is not only the Host of CollegeBasketball madness, it also is NationalWomensHistory month, a few notable Facts & Figures, statistics that measure societal Progress…I am often Critical of “TheProgress” I speak of here, SocietalProgress that is, so I thought I would show my range & present a few societal steps forward…& a couple steps sideways…
► To begin…153.6million Women in America, 149.4million Men
► 54% of which are Mothers, or 82.8million
► 59% of Women in America, 16years old or older, work outside
TheHome, compared to 74% of Men
► $32,649 is the MedianIncome of Women, 16years or older who
work Fulltime & YearRound
► 77¢, is how much Women are paid, on average, for every $1 a
Man earns today…In DirtCity, Women earn 98¢ on the Man$1
► 17% or 26.8million Women, 25years or older hold a
CollegeDegree, from roughly 12million in 1978
► 3million Girls in America participate in HighSchoolSports, the
number was 1.5million in 1978