It's no Secret

"The Secret" is based on a spiritual theory that espouses visualizing and asking the universe for what you want. I just can't get there, but this week was as good an argument for it as any.

I've been inwardly and fervently longing for a more organized and energized feel from my grassroots political organization, "The Calaveras County Ron Paul 2008 Meetup Group." I submitted several suggestions for improvement and change to the group's leader and the membership in general. Assent was quick and unanimous. The timing must have been ripe.

Also, I have been more and more interested in entry-level entertainment skills and issues. Comedy, theater and the like. Two days ago I got a call from a local do-gooder who is active in this area, and she solicited my interest in a project to be named later, including stand-up comedy and emcee opportunities. I leapt upon it, at least in theory, and I hope it turns into something I can sink my teeth into.

The future is a little more exciting. I'm looking forward to seeing how it turns out.

Obama-thon

It's near the end of a workday whose radioplay has been thoroughly dominated by the inauguration of Barack Obama. A black man is president, and it's truly historical. I should be thinking big thoughts, swept away with a national sense of self-congratulation like everyone else.

Instead, I can relate these very human reflections: First, I honestly didn't think that the American people had it in them to vote in a black president (nor did I think a woman had a beggar's chance, either). It doesn't trouble me to tell you that I told my brother during the Democratic primary that the because the Dems were saddled with either a minority or a woman that the Republicans were a shoo-in, even if they had to prop up John McCain's lifeless corpse and operate his acceptance speech through a complicated clockwork of fishing line and pulleys. I just didn't believe the country was there yet. So, it turns out I am pleasantly surprised that my dark cynicism was proven wrong. Good for us.

Unfortunately, although there are reasons to like and vote for Obama, I think the country is settling for a cosmetic (skin-deep, if you will) revolution over the pragmatic resolution it really needs. It sounds like only a narrow portion of Ron Paul's arm-waving, near-frantic advice against striding the globe as a lone superpower will be implemented in the Obama administration,. I am glad we'll be changing course, but it doesn't take a genius or a revolutionary to realize that we were screwing the pooch in Iraq; our recent success with the "surge" only indicates we're screwing it in finer form, not that it's any better a goal. But I am heartened and confident that Obama's will be closer to a correct path than either Bush has or McCain would have provided. As far as Paul's similar admonitions against writing checks on accounts you don't have, it looks like we'll be blowing past ever-increasing limits with the stimulus and job creation being promised.

What do I know? Maybe pouring oceans of money after the problem will make things all right. It does me no good to look over the shoulders of wizards working with alchemies I don't understand. The best I can hope for is to be a well-meaning heckler.

Regarding self-congratulation, one minor note: how can you slap yourself on the back with such gusto, as if you were with him from his very birth, when your airy mind wasn't made up until a mere several days before election day? It's fair-weather fan syndrome, carried to the extreme. Sorry - just thinking of one person I know; I digress.

Much less significantly, anytime something is over-hyped I am overcome with an irresistible desire to flinch away, and it is no different with Archangel Obama, whose wings will surely tatter and fray soon enough, and who will be found to be human just like the rest of us. I'd just as soon have the marching bands vanish, and my radio shows back where they belong.

"The best argument against democracy..."

"I'm not against Proposition 8; if gay people want to get married, whatever, but I heard there's a component that calls for it to teach children about gays in the schools. I mean, I'd almost rather have them be taught about God, or something. I mean, why can they learn about gays, but not God...?"

I managed to quip all but the final syllable of the response: "Well, gay people actually exist..." before thinking better of it and clamming up. Luckily, my interlocutor only pays intermittent attention at best, and it was as if I'd never opened my mouth at all.

I'm definitely getting less timid about my own views, but I'm not sure at all whether that's a good thing or not. Adopting a more vocal stance and a less vocal one are both are tempting and extreme.

CCTA

I've gone and joined a small political organization in my area. I'm not too sure what they're all about yet, but if they chase the rainbows they've advertised that they chase, it could be a worthwhile investment of time and energy.

Or, they could be the nuttiest gaggle of kooks this side of the Sierra Nevadas; but that's the gamble you take on any group of hominids these days, so what have I got to lose? I look forward to finding out.

It's about damned time

Finally, a little shift in momentum. GM announced this week that they'll ease back on gas-guzzling trucks and SUV's, and try to crank out something that doesn't cost a fortune in fuel to drive for a fucking change.

I really had lost hope that anything at all would turn America's sloppy, unintelligent lust for oil away from its course. I knew as well as everyone else that it would take a real kick in the nuts before industrial and political will would start to turn that ship around. In the faceoff between the status quo and good sense, it appears that GM finally blinked, and thank your god for that. I honestly thought it would never happen.

I know it's not everything - it may not even be much. But I allow myself to believe that this is a first step in a process that is too long in starting; that of switching from the endless reliance on fossil fuels, and a move to more sensible, sustainable and contemporary fuel sources.

Time Magazine's Ron Paul article

Time Magazine published a great article about Ron Paul's candidacy and both his contrast to and effect upon the Republican Party.

Buy Danish

Muslims are boycotting Danish products in the wake of another round of printed cartoons featuring Muhammad wearing a bomb-shaped turban.

I'd like to apply my efforts to an anti-boycott, and recommend the fervent buying of Danish products, in response. Fortunately, there's a website devoted to this cause, BuyDanish.dk. How convenient!

Who knew playing with Lego was a political statement?

John Bizarre makes a helluva point

The Fourth Amendment of the Constitution is under attack, and John Bizarre is raising the alarm. Aside from his paranoia and martyr complex, he makes some fine points, worthy of reckoning and attention. It's not the last word on the subject, but it makes for some damn fine food for thought.

I don't think it's quite worth abandoning the country for, but it's certainly worth consideration.

One thing I'd point out - if John's trying to put together a coalition (he raves about being the only one fighting the fight - I'd advise him to go a little lighter on the sole survivor angle), he's not trying very hard. I don't even know how to contact him, were I to pledge my pen and sword in allegiance. Which I'm ready to do, by the way.

John, if you're out there, contact me - at least you'll have someone to water your stallion before you charge off at the windmills.

That's not meant to sound as gay as it does...

John Bizarre is sick of your shit

John Bizarre is many things, but I posit that crazy isn't one of them.

Read his current and recent posts and you may disagree with me, but that's up to you. I suspect the truth is that he's convinced that the unthinkable is slowly but certainly unfolding before his eyes, and he can't keep quiet about it any longer. And it's amazing to watch.

I don't know if what he's pointing out is what is truly happening, but I know his advice (turn off the TV and start truly giving a shit) smacks of good advice. He has to understand the undeniable power of skeptical apathy and the lifelong stream of lies that cause it, but he rails against it just the same.

Everybody is full of shit, and we don't even twitch when candidate after candidate lies to our faces with a smile. It is now the natural order of things, and to suggest otherwise is now enough to label you a crackpot.

Well, get your crack outta my pot. Maybe he just makes enough sense. His rant against voting the same raggedy, binary, lesser-of-two-evils choices is convincing enough on its own to get me to shave my head and join the circus. If he makes much more sense, I'm voting for whatever rutabaga he tells me to. Even Ron Paul.