Thursday, May 14, 2009

Time to get our heads right


So much shit. Who do you trust? Which way is up?...Up, down, right, left....

Did we torture? Yes, we did but was it legal?
Fuck you, it WAS against the law!

No, you dirty damn hippie, our lawyers wrote the magic memo! It was legal, kinda.
Besides, we had too! The evil Brown People were coming to make us all Muslim!

The give and take between the right and the left is getting shrill. This is just the torture memos. Health care is on the table now and we have some of our own party blocking single payer insurance. The corporate whores of the for-profit health care industry, the insurance industry, and the pharmaceutical companies are no-holds barred trying to woo Dems away from Obama's original plan.

The battles are on many fronts today. Too many to count and too many to mount much opposition. Our personal windmills are being pushed into the background as the MSM determines what story should be foremost on the news. This means my issues of affordable health care and decriminalized marijuana take a back seat to Miss California's tits.

So, I give you a moment of zen. A musical Valium to wrap your head around the situation and get a new perspective. This video takes us back to a time when the country was in chaos like now. Different time, different war, different players but the shit was just as deep. Then, as now, music was our channel to truth. Or at least the seeds of it.



I will update this post in a few. Work is calling and I have to bring home my meager slice of bacon. Enjoy the trip!

So Mote It Be,
David A,

Sunday, May 10, 2009

No overtime pay for Mom


On this second Sunday in May, I want to take a moment to give a shout out to those young ladies (of all ages) who have brought life into the world. One in particular brought this poor old grizzled hippie into the light 50 years ago.

I wasn't the only one. No, I was only the second of eight children bore by a housewife from South Dakota who married a logger from Eastern Washington.

Talk about love, they've been together for 54 years These fine folks, right now, are sitting at the kitchen table, having a cup of coffee, reading the paper and telling the grandkids to shut the hell up.

Mothers Day is the day we set aside to honor our maternal parent, the lady who wiped our nose and our ass when we leaked, swatted that ass when we screwed up and praised us when we made her proud. Like when we got three book awards to Angie Johnson's two in second grade. (In your face, Mrs. Johnson! Whoop-Whoop!)

My mom looked the other way on many an occasion when she could have taken me out like a bag of trash. Like the time I experimented on the electrical properties of a dinner fork. After replacing the fuse and putting out the little fire on her brand new bedspread, she simply said:

"Well, you won't do that again, will you?" At least I wasn't holding the damn fork when I plugged it in.

Growing up, I saw the power of compromise. I learned what sharing REALLY means. If you buy candy, you better eat it all before you get home or you have to give some to everybody! With seven brothers and sisters, my mom taught us how to get along with all kinds of people. Even those who would take your favorite yellow Foghat t-shirt to a slumber party and get a god damn, big ass grease stain on it. Fucker!

In 1977, I wrote out an essay about a day in the life of my mother. It was about the daily care and feeding of three youngsters and four teenagers. My English teacher submitted the essay to a contest and my mom was selected Mother of the Year by my town's Chamber of Commerce. I would show you a picture but it was 1977 and I'm wearing a gawd awful leisure suit type thing so that photo will never see the light of day.

To my mother's credit, my siblings and I get along really well. We have our fights and arguments, but in the end we hold no grudges. We talk to each other on a regular basis, exchange gossip and take great pains to interfere in each other's lives. My in-laws (spouses of siblings) have said that our family is a tough club to crack into. We do stick our noses where they don't belong, that's true but we stick together in times of trouble. Some of my sisters' ex-boyfriends can attest to that. Imagine facing down three older brothers AND a dad who knocks down trees for a living. It's a wonder any of them are married at all.

Mothers have great powers. They have the power of time travel and can re-awaken a person's youth. Even at 50 years old, I still revert back to 12 when talking to Mom. She can sent me back in time to 1971 in a single sentence. "David, I'm disappointed in you!" I can only respond "But Mom!"

Such is the power of motherhood.

Happy Mother's Day to all the young ladies (of all ages) who have gifted us with life and love. We are in awe of your grace and your patience. And if one of your children causes a minor power outage by cross-circuiting the toaster, be gentle.

So Mote It Be,
David A.