Changing Places

So I’m attending this campaign and elections seminar in Los Angeles today and tomorrow. Lots of info on campaign strategy and planning and such. But then, Fred Davies is up there, showing his advertising campaigns for various candidates. And all I can think is, good grief. The people in this room work hard to create good campaigns for politicians they believe in, and this guy can destroy their work in a few seconds worth of a television commercial. The guy doing the talk on direct mail can destroy their hard work in a couple of seconds worth of a malicious mailer.

Most people won’t ever get to meet a candidate, yet form an impression of them based on what they see in a couple of seconds from a mailer or a minute of a commercial. And the legislation is all being written by the lobbyists these days, anyway. What have the candidates become other than a product to sell, or a competitor’s product to tear down?

We need to rethink things, somehow. We need to get people to start thinking about how political decisions affect their lives, to stop thinking it doesn’t matter who is in offiice, to understand the political process. But we also need to start dmanding more from our legislators – that they go back to their jobs, instead of being foils for marketing campaigns and tools of lobbyists.

I come at this from the grassroots. But in seeing how the “professionals” operate, I think it is clear that we’re in bigger trouble than I even imagined…… yeah, I laughed at some of Davies pieces. They are funny. But they shouldn’t be deciding the way people think and the way they vote. And how we change that, I don’t know.

Ten rules for atheists

Have no gods.
Don’t worship stuff.
Be polite.
Take a day off once in a while.
Be nice to folks.
Don’t kill people.
Don’t fool around on your significant other.
Don’t steal stuff.
Don’t lie about stuff.
Don’t be greedy.

Moon, Harriet Hunter

The moon shines at midday.
The master blesses the people.

Humility is good, but sometimes it is inappropriate. Self-cultivation in private is good, but sometimes it is also inappropriate. Why? Because if one never comes out to help others and show that it is possible to be spiritual in modern times, then people will lose faith. When people go to hear a spiritual master, they do not go to hear self-deprecation. They go to see perfection.

In the past the masters would come down from the mountains to let people see them. By going among the people, they reaffirmed the validity of spirituality. By walking among the masses, they inspired others to undertake self-cultivation. By helping those whom they encountered, they directly touched the lives of others. Self-cultivation and concentration on the divine is fine, but there are times when one should remember one’s fellow beings.

When one shines forth, it is like the moon at midday — an event so bright that what is normally hidden outshines even the brightest light. That is what it is like when the masters walk among the people. By their presence, they illuminate and gladden all who come their way.

Deng Ming Tao, 365 Tao

that life in its most beautiful
form may emerge as the radiance
of the rising sun

by Allan Houser
Originally commissioned by the Sundance Institute for the edication of the Rehearsal Hall on September 28, 1985. A Series of Commissioned Essays

Hear our invocation, He Who Lives Unseen,
He who grants us the Breath of Life,
Have compassion on us,
And grant us your sacred Purpose of Life
That Life in its most beautiful form may emerge
as the radiance of the rising sun.
As the radiance of the sun,
Let Life spread out over the face of the land.
Let there be Life.
Let all living things experience the fullness of Life unto old age.
So be it.

Hisnen Kahdai-matahk kah-tu-kah,
Itah-muy hikw-sit maki-tahka,
Itah-muy tunaht-yai ahkw ohkwa-tuok,
Sus-lol-ma katsi tala-hoi-ni.
Taa-wat yamahk-tokat ahn talaow-ngwai ahkw
Tuu-wa-kal-mohk pu-hik mani.
Kasti yeseow-ni
Wu-yo mik katsi navohkya-wintiw-ni.
Pai ovi yan-ta-ni.

Sus-lol-ma Katsi Tala-hoi-ni

by Allan Houser

“May all the radiance unify and increase in magnitude. ”
– Yajur Veda

“We have magnificent brains, but we use a great deal of our brilliance to keep ourselves stuck and ignorant, to keep ourselves from not shining. We are so afraid of our beauty and radiance and brilliance because it scared the adults around us when we were children.” — Patricia Sun

“People should not worry as much about what they do but rather about what they are. If they and their ways are good, then their deeds are radiant. If you are righteous, then what you do will also be righteous. We should not think that holiness is based on what we do but rather on what we are, for it is not our works which sanctify us but we who sanctify our works.” — Meister Eckhart

“Virtue could see to do what Virtue would
By her own radiant light, though sun and moon
Were in the flat sea sunk.”
– John Milton

We don’t often think of ourselves as Masters, but we do walk in the world. When you are out in the world, are you cheerful and kind to the people you meet, or are you so tied up in your own problems that you are barely polite to others? We can all strive to be more radiant to those we meet, to do kind things for people.

I was waiting patiently in a parking lot the other day for some older people to get in their car so that I could get to mine. i had just gotten some candy in the store that I was sampling, so I had a couple of extra pieces at hand. The older woman noticed me waiting, and apologized for being slow. I told her there was no need to apologize, that someday I would be where they were in life. She said “Oh, I hope not, since they were not in good health. I smiled and said, “Oh, but you’re the lucky ones to make it this far!” and handed her husband the candies while he getting into his side of the car. The older woman laughed and said “I guess you’re right.”

It doesn’t take much to make someone’s day. A smile for the person waiting on you or checking out your groceries, a kind word to someone who needs one, a bit of consideration for those who are older or less well off than you are. We can all be more radiant in the world, less stuck on ourselves and our own problems and concerns.

American debacle – Los Angeles Times

Zbigniew Brzezinski sums it all up:

Finally, complicating this sorry foreign policy record are war-related economic trends. The budgets for the departments of Defense and Homeland Security are now larger than the total budget of any nation, and they are likely to continue escalating as budget and trade deficits transform America into the world’s No. 1 debtor nation. At the same time, the direct and indirect costs of the war in Iraq are mounting, even beyond the pessimistic prognoses of its early opponents, making a mockery of the administration’s initial predictions. Every dollar so committed is a dollar not spent on investment, on scientific innovation or on education, all fundamentally relevant to America’s long-term economic primacy in a highly competitive world.

And there it is. What this administration is really doing is bankrupting America’s future. For the sake of filling their pockets with “your money”, they are willing to bankrupt your child’s education, any chance of a future job, and any chance of a strong, economically viable country to live in. Think about it next time you vote, people….

In a very real sense, during the last four years the Bush team has dangerously undercut America’s seemingly secure perch on top of the global totem pole by transforming a manageable, though serious, challenge largely of regional origin into an international debacle. Because America is extraordinarily powerful and rich, it can afford, for a while longer, a policy articulated with rhetorical excess and pursued with historical blindness. But in the process, America is likely to become isolated in a hostile world, increasingly vulnerable to terrorist acts and less and less able to exercise constructive global influence. Flailing away with a stick at a hornets’ nest while loudly proclaiming “I will stay the course” is an exercise in catastrophic leadership.

Indeed. Bush is moving from a miserable failure to a catastrophic failure.

At least he would always recuse himself….

Or maybe…

Cezanne, Still Life

Wind stirs the bamboo,
But once the wind passes,
The bamboo is silent.
Geese land in a chill pond,
But once the geese fly away,
There are no reflections.
In the same way,
Once the red dust passes,
The mind is still.

The affairs of the world are often euphemistically referred to as red dust. This is the involvement of the world that is hard to brush away and yet equally hard to hold on to. We may seek meditative detachment, but as long as the stimulation of the world continue to blow through our minds, the true stillness of meditation is impossible.

If we do not involve ourselves with the difficulties of the world, there will naturally not be any suggestion or stimulation present. Then the mind will be still. The still mind is capable of the most supreme states of existence.

Obviously, total withdrawal from the tribulations, dangers, sensual temptations, and entanglements of everyday life would be one way of doing this. If you feel ready to do this and you have that option, they you should do so. You will find satisfaction and happiness very quickly. But if you are obligated to remain in the world for some time more, and still want to practice the art of tranquillity, you must execute withdrawal on a more microscopic scale. Then stillness is possible for at least short periods.

Deng Ming Tao, 365 Tao

“O Krishna, the stillness of divine union which you describe is beyond my comprehension. How can the mind, which is so restless, attain lasting peace? Krishna, the mind is restless, turbulent, powerful, violent; trying to control it is like trying to tame the wind.” — Bhagavad Gita

“You and I can turn and look
at the silent river and wait. We know
the current is there, hidden; and there
are comings and goings from miles away
that hold the stillness exactly before us.
What the river says, that is what I say.”
– William Stafford

“There is a point where in the mystery of existence contradictions meet; where movement is not all movement and stillness is not all stillness; where the idea and the form, the within and the without, are united; where infinite becomes finite, yet not” — Rabindranath Tagore

“For those who wish to climb the mountain of spiritual awareness, the path is selfless work. For those who have attained the summit of union with the Lord, the path is stillness and peace.” — Bhagavad Gita

“One’s action ought to come out of an achieved stillness: not to be mere rushing on.”
– D.H. Lawrence

We used to go on lots of camping trips when I was a kid, traveling all over the place and exploring for a few days in the woods or the desert or wherever. Then, we took a trip to Monument Valley in New Mexico. Red dust got into everything – the tent, the sleeping bags,, all our clothing – my mom spent weeks washing it all out, and vowed never to go camping again, and she didn’t. I think I missed out on a lot of fun camping trips because of red dust.

And I think that we all miss out on a lot of things because of the red dust that clutters up our minds – all the little things that get into our thoughts and are so difficult to get rid of. The prejudices, the negativity we all seem to walk around with, the mish mash of daily events we have to deal with. It’s difficult to let all that slide away and just have a few moments to simply be ourselves, without all those things cluttering up our thoughts.

So many people seem to think meditation is about getting to where you aren’t thinking any thoughts at all, where your mind is completely quiet. But, rather like the stillness of a river, there are always thoughts moving within us. It’s more about getting to where those thoughts don’t bother you, you notice them in the flow and let them move on, without causing a ripple. Then it becomes the true stillness of the mind. You find yourself able to handle the day to day things more calmly, knowing that, even in the rapids, there will be a still pool ahead where you can rest again.

Let the river do its job, washing out the red dust and carrying it away, so you can get back to enjoying life again. Maybe even going camping, in the red dust of the desert, knowing it won’t bother you anymore.

Not very happy looking firefighters posing with Ahnuld….

It’s all just show bidness to Ahnuld…

Los Angeles Times: Did These Firefighters Truly Stand by the Gov.?

So how did Schwarzenegger find 20 firefighters eager to pose with him?

He didn’t, says Pat McOsker, president of United Firefighters of Los Angeles, who went to the command center to check on the condition of colleagues who had been on the job for three days with little sleep. He says the men and women flanking the governor were acting under duress.

Some of the firefighters, he says, approached him at the command center. “They say, ‘Hey, we’ve been told we’re going to be a part of this press conference with the governor. Can they do that? Can they make us stand with him? We’re not happy about it.’ ”

McOsker told them to go ask their chiefs if they were required to follow such an order.

The answer was yes.

“It was utter hypocrisy,” says McOsker, whose differences with the governor go beyond Prop. 75.

Schwarzenegger has vetoed legislation to implement the fire protections recommended by a panel he himself appointed after the deadly fires of 2003. And yet there he was, trying to pass himself off as Smokey Bear.

McOsker said he began telling reporters at the news conference that the firefighters were ordered to stand up there with Schwarzenegger, and one scribe asked the governor about it.

Rather than dispute the contention, Schwarzenegger said everybody is ordered to do things at one point or another. Someone was ordered to put up the podium, he said. Someone was ordered to bring in the microphone.

“I don’t think we should bring politics into this,” said the governor.

I wish he wouldn’t always treat us like such boobs.

Of course it was politics. He’s got every right to show up at a fire and pat people on the back for a job well done, but the appearance can’t be separated from the politics.

Not that the firefighters aren’t guilty of their own politicking. I only know about the controversy surrounding the photo-op because I got a note from Carroll Wills at the California Professional Firefighters, who wanted to make sure the governor didn’t get away with passing himself off as their champion.

But the whole thing also raises a question that goes beyond politics and straight to the heart of voters’ concerns about Schwarzenegger. Does he ever get out of makeup, or is everything show business?

If firefighters were so happy to share Schwarzenegger’s company, I told McLane, have one of them call me.

“Hello,” said the voice on the phone. “This is Chuck Marin.”

Marin, a state fire battalion chief, told me he was the one who set up the news conference.

“The governor’s office asked, you know, for some firefighters,” Marin told me. “They asked for some fire engines to be … placed behind the podium, and to see if any firefighters were available to stand back there.”

Marin said he made an announcement asking for volunteers. When they showed up, he didn’t see anyone with a gun to his head.

Little did he know.

“We were all in agreement amongst ourselves: Nobody wanted to do it,” said Capt. Wayne Ferber of the Ventura County Fire Department. “We were directed by one of our chief officers that this was something we were to do. If you were watching on the TV screen, I was to the right side of the governor, but I was sort of ducking so nobody would see me. I was doing my best to stay out of the picture.”

Hmmm, I said. I was told the governor got a warm greeting.

“No, he was not greeted warmly,” Ferber said. “I don’t think you saw a lot of smiling faces.”

Why so glum?

“My wife is a public school teacher, so we kind of get a double whammy here,” Ferber said. “The governor is taking on teachers. When he came in, we all had high hopes for him.”

Steve Francis, another Ventura County fire captain, said he was told his crew’s participation in the news conference was voluntary, and everyone declined.

“Then at some point in the process, one of our chiefs came up and said, ‘I’m ordering you guys to stand there in the backdrop,’ and that was it. There was no other conversation.”

“I’m a big friend of the firefighters,” Schwarzenegger said once his “buddies” had gathered round. “As a matter of fact, in one of my movies, I played a firefighter.”

Jan Steen, The Droll Farm, 1663

I hate the way this chicken comes
All bagged in plastic
Without head or feet;
Neck, heart, liver, and gizzard
Stuck into its cavity.
No wonder people feel unconnected.

Traditional people like to see the whole animal when they shop for their meals. In cultures where personal contacts are more meaningful and closeness to the earth is a way of life, it is no surprise that people are interested in a complete relationship to their food. They buy it or raise it, they harvest it, they clean it, and they cook it — all before they eat it in gratitude. They don’t become sentimental over their food — practicality is to understand that we kill to survive — but they do give thanks for what has died to sustain them.

Today we have a very incomplete relationship to our food. We don’t see where something grows, we eat foods out of season, we buy prepared foods made by someone we don’t even know. There is a great power in knowing your food, knowing where it came from, preparing it with your own hands. This food, whether vegetable or animal, died for us. The least we can do is partake of it thoroughly and with respect.

Nowadays it is quite common for people to feel isolated. They lament not having friends, not having genuine experiences, not having a sense of who they are. If even the food that we eat and the way that we eat is lacking in wholeness, then how will we feel completion in the rest of our lives?

Deng Ming Tao, 365 Tao

Yield and overcome;
Bend and be straight;
Empty and be full;
Wear out and be new;
Have little and gain;
Have much and be confused.
Therefore wise men embrace the one and set an example to all.
Not putting on a display, they shine forth.
Not justifying themselves, they are distinguished.
Not boasting, they receive recognition.
Not bragging, they never falter.
They do not quarrel, so no one quarrels with them.
Therefore the ancients say, ‘Yield and overcome’.
Is that an empty saying?
Be really whole, and all things will come to you.

Tao Te Ching, 22

“Everything in the unconscious seeks outward manifestation, and the personality too desires to evolve out of its unconscious conditions and to experience itself as a whole.”
– Carl Gustav Jung

“Individuals we consider happy commonly seem complete in the present and we see them constantly in their wholeness: attentive, cheerful, open rather than closed to events, integral in the moment rather than distended across time by regret or anxiety.” — Robert Grudin

“There are very few human beings who receive the truth, complete and staggering, by instant illumination. Most of them acquire it fragment by fragment, on a small scale, by successive developments, cellularly, like a laborious mosaic.”
– Anais Nin

“To be whole. To be complete. Wildness reminds us what it means to be human, what we are connected to rather than what we are separate from.”
– Terry Tempest Williams

“Ninety percent of the world’s woe comes from people not knowing themselves, their abilities, their frailties, and even their real virtues. Most of us go almost all the way through life as complete strangers to ourselves.” — Sydney J. Harris

Ah, we are a long way from when we lived on the farms… just a generation ago, my dad was sent to help out at his Uncle’s farm. My brother spent a summer at my uncle’s dairy farm. Few of us get the chance to experience farm life today. I remember visiting my uncle’s farm, the huge farm breakfasts, the fresh, fresh milk and cream… yum.

I haven’t gotten into the whole food or raw food movements very much, or even being vegetarian. I find these days I don’t care much for red meats like beef at all, or pork. I love salmon, and try to eat wild caught salmon whenever I’m in the mood for it. Other than that it is typically turkey or chicken. But since I tend to eat pretty much breast meat, I usually just buy the breasts.

I grow a garden, but my soil on the side of this hill is so shallow I can’t grow much. I have tried raised beds, but even then, there are soil nematodes and viruses here that pretty much get to any tomatoes I try to grow. Or the dog eats them… These days I am starting to have luck with fruits, though – guavas and passion fruit, and my apple tree got its first apple this year. By the way, I complained about the one passion fruit on my vine a few posts back – it is now covered in fruit – Tao provides… Lots of people grow citrus around here, so I guess I could do that, but I really don’t eat it that much.

My dream home is my golden retriever ranch, with a large amount of room for the goldens to roam, and a nice big separate fenced-off garden area (organic, of course!). Maybe a horse or two, to ride around on and enjoy the area, maybe some chickens. I suppose the house would need to be a bit larger than I might otherwise have, to accomodate all those goldens and to share with other people who I would have around to help raise the goldens and care for them, since I also want to travel more. I want the ranch to raise goldens to give away for special needs programs, to tour senior homes and care homes, and to give to people who just need a wonderful pet to love. So these would mostly be rescue dogs or dogs being raised to go into helper programs. I need to be close to a populated area, but not surrounded by it, I think. And of course there must be a beach nearby to take the dogs out swimming and to surf and bodysurf at!

Gosh, is that too much to ask for? Then, I think, my life would feel whole and complete….

… or evil?

Who knows? As usual, Bush gives us a crony who sucks up to him and keeps the family out of trouble. We get Roberts, involved heavily in Iran-Contra coverups, and now Miers, who was paid 19,000 pieces of silver to cover up Bush’s National Guard record (or lack thereof.) and worked for the law firm of the Texas Mafia.

Sigh. I’m tired of crony politics. Can we have our country back now, please? Or did you people all forget you’re supposed to be working for us and not your own damn pocketbooks and power schemes?

Writings about Tao are purposefully obscure.
Why? Because the writers cherish Tao.
The path is difficult to ensure worthiness.
The lazy look elsewhere,
The persevering find riches.

There was once an eccentric calligrapher who said, “When the ordinary person likes my work, I shudder. If they find me obscure, then I am delighted.”

Writings about Tao are not always easy to understand. Many times in the past, even monks in long training were still helpless to properly interpret the scriptures. Some have therefore accused followers of Tao of being coldly elitist. In fact, those who write about Tao are obscure only because they cherish Tao so much. They only want knowledge of Tao to go to those who will appreciate it. They do not want to pollute Tao by exposing it to the idly curious. If everyone in the world could appreciate Tao, then the knowledge of Tao would be given freely.

Actually, the masters have already babbled away all the secrets. In their compassionate determination to pass on their insights, they have worn themselves out trying to get their messages across to us. The secrets of life are already written repeatedly in all the holy books. They are only secrets because we do not take the time to truly read.

Can you see jewels in the mud?

Deng Ming Tao, 365 Tao

The wise student hears of the Tao and practises it diligently.
The average student hears of the Tao and gives it thought now and again.
The foolish student hears of the Tao and laughs aloud.
If there were no laughter, the Tao would not be what it is.

Hence it is said:
The bright path seems dim;
Going forward seems like retreat;
The easy way seems hard;
The highest Virtue seems empty;
Great purity seems sullied;
A wealth of Virtue seems inadequate;
The strength of Virtue seems frail;
Real Virtue seems unreal;
The perfect square has no corners;
Great talents ripen late;
The highest notes are hard to hear;
The greatest form has no shape.
The Tao is hidden and without name.
The Tao alone nourishes and brings everything to fulfillment.

– Tao Te Ching 41

As the yogi read the Gita aloud for awhile, the king become very interested, exclaiming, “That is really fascinating.” After some time, the yogi put the Gita away and said, “Now the crest jewel can be found.”

They both stood up and walked toward the pond. Because the yogi had been reading for quite some time, the mud in the water, which had been stirred up by the servants looking for the crest jewel, had had time to settle. The water was now clear, and as the yogi looked into the calm pond he could see the fish swimming around. He could also see the footprints the servants had made. And in the clear, still water he could see a little round hump of mud.

The yogi said to the king, “Look! You can see all that is in the water. You can even see the contour of the bottom of the pond. And from the mirrored surface of the pond, you can even see the sun above.” He then reached into the water and pulled the hump of mud out of the water. It was the king’s most precious treasure, his crest jewel.

This simple story, like all yoga stories, is didactic. It illustrates, symbolically, that the mind is a pond and that the crest jewel is our self-awareness that we lost. In the thrust to quell our thirst, our desires, we have lost our most precious treasure! Thus, we immediately throw our servants—our thoughts, our emotions, and our will power—into the pond to find it. These servants activate and disturb the mind. Then we throw in more thoughts and more emotions arise, which only muddy the water more.

– Goswami Kriyananda

“Whoever knows he is deep, strives for clarity; whoever would like to appear deep to the crowd, strives for obscurity. For the crowd considers anything deep if only it cannot see to the bottom: the crowd is so timid and afraid of going into the water.” — Friedrich Nietzsche

“I’m afraid of losing my obscurity. Genuineness only thrives in the dark. Like celery.”
– Aldous Huxley

“There are two kinds of light – the glow that illuminates, and the glare that obscures.”
– James Thurber

“The great work must inevitably be obscure, except to the very few, to those who like the author himself are initiated into the mysteries. Communication then is secondary: it is perpetuation which is important. For this only one good reader is necessary.” — Henry Miller

“Be obscure clearly.” — E. B. White

“The obscure we see eventually. The completely obvious, it seems, takes longer.”
– Edward R. Murrow

I don’t find the Tao obscure, especially the 81 verses. I find them rich, though, in that they can be read over and over and each time you will find new meaning in them. Perhaps what we think of as obscure is merely that which requires thought. Or perhaps, we simply don’t want to take the time to really examine what we read. I certainly don’t intend for my own writings to be obscure, although some people might find them so. Maybe what seems hidden, like the grasshopper, is really not so hard to see at all, but merely obscured by the background of our thoughts.

Democracy Now! | NBA Player Etan Thomas Slams Bush Administration, Outlines Impact on Poor

This problem is universal, transcending race, economic background, religion, and culture, and this problem is none other than the current administration which has set up shop in the White House.

In fact, I’d like to take some of these cats on a field trip. I want to get big yellow buses with no air conditioner and no seatbelts and round up Bill O’Reilly, Pat Buchanan, Trent Lott, Sean Hannity, Dick Cheney, Jeb Bush, Bush Jr. and Bush Sr., John Ashcroft, Giuliani, Ed Gillespie, Katherine Harris, that little bow-tied Tucker Carlson and any other right-wing conservative Republicans I can think of, and take them all on a trip to the ‘hood. Not to do no 30-minute documentary. I mean, I want to drop them off and leave them there, let them become one with the other side of the tracks, get them four mouths to feed and no welfare, have scare tactics run through them like a laxative, criticizing them for needing assistance.

I’d show them working families that make too much to receive welfare but not enough to make ends meet. I’d employ them with jobs with little security, let them know how it feels to be an employee at will, able to be fired at the drop of a hat. I’d take away their opportunities, then try their children as adults, sending their 13-year-old babies to life in prison. I’d sell them dreams of hopelessness while spoon-feeding their young with a daily dose of inferior education. I’d tell them no child shall be left behind, then take more money out of their schools, tell them to show and prove themselves on standardized exams testing their knowledge on things that they haven’t been taught, and then I’d call them inferior.

I’d soak into their interior notions of endless possibilities. I’d paint pictures of assisted productivity if they only agreed to be all they can be, dress them up with fatigues and boots with promises of pots of gold at the end of rainbows, free education to waste terrain on those who finish their bid. Then I’d close the lid on that barrel of fool’s gold by starting a war, sending their children into the midst of a hostile situation, and while they’re worried about their babies being murdered and slain in foreign lands, I’d grace them with the pain of being sick and unable to get medicine.

Give them health benefits that barely cover the common cold. John Q. would become their reality as HMOs introduce them to the world of inferior care, filling their lungs with inadequate air, penny pinching at the expense of patients, doctors practicing medicine in an intricate web of rationing and regulations. Patients wander the maze of managed bureaucracy, costs rise and quality quickly deteriorates, but they say that managed care is cheaper. They’ll say that free choice in medicine will defeat the overall productivity, and as co-payments are steadily rising, I’ll make their grandparents have to choose between buying their medicine and paying their rent.

Then I’d feed them hypocritical lines of being pro-life as the only Christian way to be. Then very contradictingly, I’d fight for the spread of the death penalty, as if thou shall not kill applies to babies but not to criminals.

Then I’d introduce them to those sworn to protect and serve, creating a curb in their trust in the law. I’d show them the nightsticks and plungers, the pepper spray and stun guns, the mace and magnums that they’d soon become acquainted with, the shakedowns and illegal search and seizures, the planted evidence, being stopped for no reason. Harassment ain’t even the half of it. Forty-one shots to two raised hands, cell phones and wallets that are confused with illegal contrabands. I’d introduce them to pigs who love making their guns click like wine glasses. Everlasting targets surrounded by bullets, making them a walking bull’s eye, a living piñata, held at the mercy of police brutality, and then we’ll see if they finally weren’t aware of the truth, if their eyes weren’t finally open like a box of Pandora.

I’d show them how the other side of the tracks carries the weight of the world on our shoulders and how society seems to be holding us down with the force of a boulder. The bird of democracy flew the coop back in Florida. See, for some, and justice comes in packs like wolves in sheep’s clothing. T.K.O.d by the right hooks of life, many are left staggering under the weight of the day, leaning against the ropes of hope. When your dreams have fallen on barren ground, it becomes difficult to keep pushing yourself forward like a train, administering pain like a doctor with a needle, their sequels continue more lethal than injections.

They keep telling us all is equal. I’d tell them that instead of giving tax breaks to the rich, financing corporate mergers and leading us into unnecessary wars and under-table dealings with Enron and Halliburton, maybe they can work on making society more peaceful. Instead, they take more and more money out of inner city schools, give up on the idea of rehabilitation and build more prisons for poor people. With unemployment continuing to rise like a deficit, it’s no wonder why so many think that crime pays.

Maybe this trip will make them see the error of their ways. Or maybe next time, we’ll just all get out and vote. And as far as their stay in the White House, tell them that numbered are their days.

Word.