Out The Heart of Darkness....

Dick Cheney woke this morning feeling strange...he was happy. A great weight had been lifted from his chest. He felt a new emotion...could this be love? He decided to give up hunting and shooting friends in the face...he called a press conference to admit he lied all the time and was wrong about Iraq...he endorsed Obama for president...he called his daughter Mary to say "I love you," and admitted he always questioned his own masculinity and then he joined the Human Rights Campaign. He was no longer a Dick...he became a Richard.

Who will be the last to die?

The United States is still in infancy as a nation. Afghanistan has been around a while longer...archaeologists have evidence of humans there around 50,000 BC. And, even if you allow that we started this longest war in our history for the meaningful goal of killing Bin Laden...revenge for 9/11...can there be a purpose left? Our children are dying. One of our soldiers will be the last to die. And for what reason? Will they die during the last transport out of Afghanistan? Will they die because we screwed up and burned their holiest book? Will they die at the hands of a mother or sister or father of someone Robert Bales murdered? Can there be a reason left for any of the children we sent over there to die? I often contemplate the meaning of life.... I don't want to have to search for meaning in their death.

Where's St. Patrick when we need him?

Legend credits St. Patrick with banishing all the snakes from Ireland, chasing them into the sea after they attacked him during a 40-day fast. There may be some truth to this legend, and there be snakes to chase here, today. The symbology of snakes is as old as time. From the Garden of Eden...near the headwaters of the Tigris and Euphrates in Iraq...(ironic...huh?)...snakes have been metaphors for evil, sex, and perversion. And evil lurks in Republican legislation all across this country. At first, I laughed at their agenda, somehow thinking they could never pull this off...bust unions, end Roe V. Wade, turn the clock back for women on battles they won years ago...couldn't happen. Well, now we need St. Patrick again.

Mitt Says "Hi!"...again and again.

Mitt called me the other day. He seemed a little stiff...he would not stop talking. I tried to say "Hi"...and I asked him how he liked our Ohio trees...(were they the right height??). (I prefer smaller trees, myself. Less damage when I run in to one.) Anyhow...he went on and on...and said how I need to get out and vote on "Super Tuesday." I did try to tell him I had already voted...but he would not shut up. I asked him for his phone number - since he has mine - but he just said to tell my friends he said "Hi." So there you go. Then, Ann, his wife called...same thing...she would not listen to me so I had to hang up. The next day, Barbara Bush called and said she wants me to vote for Mitt. I asked how her son Georgie was doing...but she kept talking like the others! No phone etiquette any more! Mitt called again...and said the exact same thing as the first call. A senior moment? And, today, I got "An Urgent call about Mitt" from Rob Portman, our Republican Senator. Guess what? He would not listen to a word I said. The logical conclusion? Republicans are deaf.

"Personhood" and a heartbeat....

My wife has noted that I can cry at commercials. I am a sensitive guy. It's not always true, but if the commercial includes a cool piece of music from an ancient place, I might get misty. Rarely, though, do they make me think. Recently, an ad for a product to help control gas...you know...gas...had a line where an interviewer read a resume and said, "...flatulent in 3 languages...," -that made me think. The thought was strange and perverse, but a thought. I was immediately imagining a talking anus. Pursed lips shaping words, first in English, then Spanish and finally Russian. Within no time, my ass was making speeches! It was eloquent...loquacious...mind numbing. The talking ass voiced a thought of its own: "I am a person!' Another ass in the room, a Republican, seconded that motion and introduced their "Personhood/Heartbeat" Amendment.... The war on women continues and escalates.

Last one standing....last one dead.

He is 22. She is 24. Her name is Lauren. She's a Facebook friend of mine. She's in Afghanistan, in the United States Army...no one seems to be able to explain why she's there. Something about Freedom. Karzai, the President there, isn't happy with us...he wants us to stop bombing them. The bombing is killing civilians there. We have robot planes called drones, too. Like science fiction...Buck Rogers. For her it's real, though. It's hot and bad things happen. Unhealthy work. His name is Albert. He's there too. The war there is almost over...his friend was just killed though. An IED blew his friend's face half off. The war's almost over, thank God. Lauren and Albert have families here in the States. Their fathers don't know each other. The same thought, though, keeps them both awake at night. The troops, our troops, are coming home soon...some sometime soon. There are no more goals to achieve...just to stay alive. Both dads can't stop thinking...Lauren and Albert...will be the last one to die. The last one to never come home. The last one old veterans call the REAL heroes of war. Can you imagine someone you loved being the last. Or even being the first. God save you Lauren and Albert. Or maybe we should save them.

I need a friggin God!

Voltaire said, "If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him." Politically incorrect it may be. But a profound truth when we see the lastest news. As of June 7th of this year, the war in Afghanistan became the longest war in our nation's history. I need a God just so I can say, "For Christ's sake...stop!" At home, we're diddling with the economy and politics like children fighting over a popsicle. Republican Debate audiences cheer the death of the uninsured and shout down our gay soldiers. This war...it's like during the Holocaust...when neighbor said to neighbor, "Aw, come on...that can't be happening." We need a friggin God to say a prayer to, light a candle for, mention in passing...when these bodies come home every day.... I believe Stephen Hawking when he says we need no God to explain the Universe. But I need one today.