Moonshine - by Suza

"The tragedy is not that those who rose so high should fall so low. The tragedy is that those who had so low an appreciation for our government should have risen to such high positions in it." Herbert Block - 1974... Picked this snippet up from Digby, of course Block was talking about Ford and Nixon and the inexplicable and perhaps criminal pardoning of the the latter by the former. You can argue all you want about that, it's ancient history... personally, they should have tried Nixon and given the episode and him and the country and the rule of law some closure and credibility. And, inadvertently saved the future from a debate that is, quite frankly, irrelevant. All republicans are crooks, always have been, always will be... What moved me about the quote and it comes from a piece I recommend you read, is it's relevance to the shoddy bunch presently leading this country to nowhere, they despise government, they despise the rule of law, they despise intrusion, they despise the environment, they despise international treaties, they despise tolerance, they despise equality, they despise a 'Modern Society', so why in the hell are they running this country and not living on some off-shore island tax-shelter counting their pennies and bossing Macaca around all day long... they can afford it and America is just not going to work for them as a Democracy! Beats me why they even bother, there must be something deeper here, illuding me, something about the psyche of an affluent, power crazed, middle aged, white, hypocrite-cow-poke-wannabee that I'm just not getting... I can see I am going to have to ponder deeply about this... got it!

Merry... ?

As our dedicated, competent and infallable Administration mulls over their ever dwindling options (read: Option 1 - Dignify this terrible decision somehow.) with our go-getter, defeat is not an option and, let's face it, manly military brass we, the American People, spend our time grappling with the more mundane aspects of life during wartime, like trying to get through the holiday period relatively unscathed. And, as for relatives, we have few here in WNY so we always consider ourselves a scathe free zone. We spent Xmas day in the tranquil environs of exhaustion as the boys muddled their way through the tech world where, unlike the old lego days, my assistance is uncalled for if not downright frowned upon, that is until something goes terribly wrong and they fry something really important and I have to intervene before they wipe my hard drive and 'she who must be obeyed' loses her entire photo collection and I'm in the guest room for an extended but undetermined time. Xmas dinner presumed itself upon us with our one living close family member, the wife's 90 year old mother, who decked out in her seasonal finery... furs and silks, spent an inordinate amount of money at one of the finer eateries of Buffalo. She, wrongly, felt that we had ignored her through dinner, relegating her few oft repeated bon mots to distractions to the greater discourse. It is telling that the greater discourse between my wife and two young sons relied heavily upon the gluttonous eating habits of our esteemed patron as she carved her way through a fine menu, spectacularly outeating my 13 year old half bear/half boy of a son. We quibbled over the driving arrangements from the restaurant to home... I had gotten myself half in the bag prior to the festivities in a vain attempt to create, for myself, a half world where none of this was really happening to me and dining with Satan was just a scene from an old Joan Crawford movie. As the reality surged at my incomplete fortress and as she kept ordering more and more food, I, naturally, drank more and more, the second martini was unnecessary, the second bottle of Chateaux D'Chassilley gratuitous and the nightcap superfluous... I was a blithering idiot... happily slumped in the back with the two boys we dropped off Mrs. Creosote and wended to the family nest. Another Christmas Day over, now the holiday season can really kick-in, now the serious shopping can begin, now the chance to sin invested in our drunken revelries.

Starting To Feel A Lot Like Xmas

So I'm reading the God Delusion by Richard Dawkins and... well he's very persuasive isn't he? I've always been somewhat agnostic, perhaps even beating on the door of atheism but - ah there is always a but - I have tried to imagine a world with a God, a world where a beneficent being watches over us and provides guidance and love. Silly hippy shit when you get down to the bare bones but I've gone there, believe me. I was raised in the CofE, morphed to Quakerism, dabbled with Bhuddism, fell in and out of love with the Jesuits, procrastinated over New Age deism and finally shoved off the rock and let it all go... now, I understand that no matter what religion one endures they are all capable of turning good men into bloody pulps for no other reason than to serve the ones who presume to benefit from that flesh extortion. We have so diluted the words of our wise men, so polluted the messages from our forebears that we struggle to understand the very basic tenets that came down, apparently from on high... heavy with purpose and intent, laden with wisdom and brevity. It's all a pile of codswallop essentially, why? Because we never really live it, we never really embrace the ethos, it is a fight to be a spiritual being, it's bloody hard and ultimately unrewarding because no one else is playing by the same rules... to paraphrase Python here and, I think I can, " They're making it up as they go along". Each religion, be it Christian, Islam, Judaism, Hindu, Bhuddism, Hale-Bopp, they are all amorphous, continually adjusting to the currents of conventional wisdom and changing their message to suit the herd mentality they seek to control. I'm done with them all, if there is a God, he would never have let it get this stupid, he would never have allowed his so called Intelligent Design to become so fucked up, so grossly unGodly. If we can't live by a few simple rules laid down only a few thousand years ago, what does that say about the relevance of religion and the relevance of our God. If we continue to twist and manipulate the words of God for our own self interest then how committed are we to the original intent. The problem is... we have never been committed continually falling off and rehitching ourselves to the spiritual wagon but a few saw religion as a chance to lead and many saw it as a chance to conform, to be a part of something that provided safety and a reason to not have to think, they, in a sense, have resigned from the human race allowing themselves to become vessels and vassals for those who seek only to promote themselves. And that, ultimately, is what drove me away and finally led to my present state... I no longer believe in a God or those who purport to represent it on this good Earth... I am free and if there was a God he would be happy.

Saturday Dog Blog

Meet Hank... Hank's afraid of my dog, Hank doesn't appreciate the sideways humping and puppy fervor of the 'Coop'. Frankly, Hank is a grown up and Cooper is a mere unsophisticated child. But Cooper is growing up Hank and soon he will be able to play the more adult doggy games that you have come to love like, lying down, snuggling next to the ankle, sleeping and eating more than you actually need... yes Cooper will soon join the canine elite and be socially acceptable. Until then, Hank is not interested in Cooper and will insist upon his own space and his own more adult doggy games. Hank is a good guy, just a little set in his ways and moribund beyond belief. All hail Hank...