Let the Wheel Turn

(Note: Image in public domain.)


Well. 2010 will be over soon, and in some parts of the world it already has.

Let's recap a bit.

We've seen horrible things: The seemingly endless March of Ignorance and Superstition, inhumanity, scandal, crime. We've seen our nation's economy teeter a bit, and while we are nowhere near out of the woods yet, we can at least see some sunlight through the leaves.

Just remember, gentle readers, that no matter what happens, recall these words of Gandhi's:

"You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty. "

And when things get tough, as we know they will ... Keep Calm, and Carry On.

Let the Wheel Turn, and welcome 2011.

Christmas

Christ Climbed Down

Christ climbed down
from His bare tree
this year
and ran away to where
there were no rootless Christmas trees
hung with candycanes and breakable stars

Christ climbed down
from His bare tree
this year
and ran away to where
there were no gilded Christmas trees
and no tinsel Christmas trees
and no tinfoil Christmas trees
and no pink plastic Christmas trees
and no gold Christmas trees
and no black Christmas trees
and no powderblue Christmas trees
hung with electric candles
and encircled by tin electric trains
and clever cornball relatives

Christ climbed down
from His bare tree
this year
and ran away to where
no intrepid Bible salesmen
covered the territory
in two-tone cadillacs
and where no Sears Roebuck creches
complete with plastic babe in manger
arrived by parcel post
the babe by special delivery
and where no televised Wise Men
praised the Lord Calvert Whiskey

Christ cimbed down
from His bare Tree
this year
and ran away to where
no fat handshaking stranger
in a red flannel suit
and a fake white beard
went around passing himself off
as some of North Pole saint
crossing the desert to Bethlehem
Pennsylvania
in a Volkswagen sled
drawn by rollicking Adirondack reindeer
with German names
and bearing sacks of Humble Gifts
from Saks Fifth Avenue
for everybody's imagined Christ child

Christ climbed down
from His bare tree
this year
and rany away to where
no Bing Crosby carolers
groaned of a tight Christmas
and where no radio City angels
iceskated singles
thru a winter wonderland
into a jinglebell heaven
daily at 8:30
with Midnight Mass matinees

Christ climbed down
from His bare tree
this year
and softly stole away into
some anonymous Mary's womb again
where in the darkest night
of everybody's anonymous soul
he awaits again
an unimaginable
and impossibly
Immaculate Reconception
the craziest
of Second Comings.


- Lawrence Ferlinghetti, 1958

The Winter of Our Discontent

Well, so much for any semblance of "Change."

President Obama capitulated to the incoming House Republicans a day or so ago, agreeing to extending the Bush tax cuts for the very wealthy while also agreeing to a cut in the payroll tax (which endangers Social Security) and a 13-month extension of unemployment benefits.

Now, the President has confronted the naysayers in his own party, saying that compromise is as American as genocide and pollution. Well, that's true, but I say that as long as you have a legislative majority you use the motherfucker. Hopefully get some shit done BEFORE the Party that pledged to obstruct and never work with you comes into power in the House.

This marks the third time the President bowed to the GOP, watering things down on health care and the stimulus in futile pursuit of an illusion called "bipartisanship."

Sometimes I find myself wishing I had a boatload of money and the ability to lie easily.

I'd have a bit of fun as President.

Of course (like Alfonso X), "were I of God's counsel at the Creation, things would have been ordered differently."

(The picture is my car, bearing the first frost of the season this morning.)

Obligatory Friday Sex Post

Yep, that time of the week again, and it's time for the Perpetual War on Christmas over in Fundie-Land. Here's a little tune, definitely NSFW, but guaranteed to give Bill O'Reilly conniptions: