it's hard~~~To Be A Cartoon Character and Make A Living~~~at the same time

Only the great political minds are capable of such a daunting task.

Republican Caricatures descend from The Editorial Page and mutate into Comedic Genres

Who does Mike Huckabee think he is? Gomer Pyle?

What chance does Rand Paul have on the national political scene with this subconscious connection?

                                                                                                                                                           Was John McCain's viral case of Potomac Fever finally arrested and~~~Laid To Rest~~~by this unconscious connection~~~to such a shallow comic veneer? Popeye The Sailor Man~~~Olive Oil~~~and~~~Bluto?

Well? Michelle Bachmann is from The North Country~~~they surely have crazy politicians in Minnesota~~~but do they have Witches?

   

~~~The Medium Is The Message~~~

   Cave Walls and Pigments~~~Pictures and Pushpins~~~Smart Phones and Websites~~~technology has developed more and more sophisticated ways for us to gather the constellation of images~~~that captivate us~~~that define us~~~and show all with the eyes to see where the boundaries of our lives are~~~and so we have~~~drawn~~~attached~~~and these days~~~downloaded~~~them into the space that surrounds us~~~as we live our daily lives~~~we seek their security and comfort~~~while upon the impermanent face of this planet. Our desires and our mysteries~~~our fears and our allegiances~~~it is within these forces~~~of thought it's self~~~that propel us to gather fresh imagery each and every day ~~~and these~~~Our Own Cherished Personal Collages~~~Refreshed and Renewed~~~ascribe some sort of meaning and supposed individually~~~security and comfort~~~into this life of ours~~~but our horizons seem to go no further than the confines of thought~~~which are our own personal~~~Walls of Plato's Cave. We all wear the same polo shirt. We all choose between the music available. We all drink from the same cup when it comes to imagery~~~it's just thought~~~and if you don't know it by now~~~All Thought is Limited~~~and the word is never the thing~~~the description is never what it describes~~~for images and thought are only abstractions of that which is.   

   So you might as well pull your pants down when you show another your Collage of Imagery~~~and come to think of it~~~that's pretty much where it all ended up~~~just a bunch of desperate scribbling upon The Global Village's Common Bathroom Wall~~~and that would be The Invention of Little Zucky~~~his spitting image cast in logos up above~~~Facebook. Well? You seem to be able to~~~get lucky or start a revolution~~~on this new electronic bathroom wall of ours~~~and for sure we all cash in our 15 Minutes of Fame while we post in there~~~because it's a flat hierarchical structure and power can't control it's communicative abilities. Our Brave New World inhabited by all of the corporate bastions of authority~~~church, state, nation, and all the myriad mix of psychopathic corporations~~~has to be worried that we all are using the same bathroom now~~~because what comes from the bottom up is always more authentic and real than what comes from the top down~~~and what's trending electronically even beats the pollesters to the punch. So don't you know~~~Big Brother~~~is in here too trying to spin things the corporate way~~~looking to reign all this messiness in.

   Facebook is~~~THE MOTHER OF ALL BATHROOM WALLS~~~but it cares not for blood nor skin in it's imagery~~~and this is it's thin veneer of morality. So if I  were to meet this~~~Pompous Zuckerboy~~~I imagine that he would have the same reaction to me as Marshall McLuhan had~~~to that guy talking about him while standing in line for a movie~~~as this was the script of McLuhan's cameo appearance in Woody Allen's movie Annie Hall~~~and so this guy is talking while standing in line for a movie and it's like he's an expert on everything about McLuhan~~~and McLuhan himself appears~~~out of nowhere~~~and comes up to him and says: "You know nothing of my work."~~~but I do know that the Digital Revolution has changed what we pay attention to and the way we live our lives~~~not it's content~~~and that's the change that I've always been looking for.

~~~~~~~~~Just Desert~~~~~~~~~

   "Why are you going there? It's just desert." This is what the convenience store clerk told my brother~~~when he said~~~we were heading for Yuma, Arizona~~~and so we left that Tucson quick stop parking lot~~~going onward~~~going west. Just Desert~~~was what we were all about~~~what we had planned~~~as we headed towards Pichaco State Recreation Area, California~~~an old mining area accessible by The Colorado River in the old days~~~and a twenty mile dirt road~~~that was cut through and follows all the paths that water makes through the wilderness~~~arroyos~~~& arroyos are all~~~Mother Nature's Highways~~~and that's what gets you to Pichaco SRA~~~these days. But it was~~~Just Desert~~~and we wound around the desert southwest~~~in the dead of winter~~~down I 25 from Santa Fe to Hatch and over to I 40 to Tucson and Yuma~~~up to Pichaco SRA for a couple of nights~~~and onto Palm Springs~~~then Baker, California~~~through Death Valley~~~to Tonopah, Nevada~~~down The Extraterrestial Highway~~~and on to Vegas. All to the tune of 2,500 miles~~~for~~~there is more open land in the western united states~~~than one can ever imagine~~~and we covered only~~~a small fraction of all of it.

   Barren~~~ & way too hot in summer~~~most life hides underground~~~lives in the night~~~or~~~in trees. The biggest shot of adrenalin i got all vacation long was not on the highways~~~where the monkeys drive to win their crazy races~~~but in a hollowed out tree that i peeked into~~~and saw~~~a little face staring back at me. He was ready to make a run for it~~~the little critter~~~knew two monkeys had invaded his campsite~~~his home was that tree. I had dropped a small pebble into the hollowed out trunk to see if something was living in there~~~and he headed for~~~the escape hatch. So why do things live in the desert? May be the same reason we incarnate on this earth~~~it's a seeming spiritual desert~~~you know. I guess in both cases it's just where you need to be~~~to play~~~the good old game of~~~Spiritual Hide & Seek.

   Reincarnation. Is that the game around here? Our world is so illusory~~~and real~~~but all that exists is~~~impermanent. All things must pass. Death is at the end of everything~~~it walks hand in hand with life. So as for reincarnation? It must die too~~~for there one day will be nothing to return to. The only thing that's going to last around here is That Which Is Timeless~~~and isn't That at the core of everything? Creation? Doesn't that mean there is a creator~~~and apparently~~~this world is not his home.

  Oh~~~the western monkey~~~is so full of~~~Whitewashed Jesus ~~that reincarnation is a subject never broached~~~never considered~~~never even thought of~~~even though Jesus said that he and John The Baptist were~~~Elijah and Elisha~~~you can read it in The Bible~~~Matthew 17: 9-13~~~in a conversation that came down~~~right after what happened on The Mount of Transfiguration. Theoretical physics so mirrors eastern philosophy~~~these days~~~that one day~~~we may see that what goes around also comes around. But as for me~~~i was never even introduced to reincarnation~~~it was something outside the western box of thinking~~~pictured as a heathen cartoon. So i ask myself~~~is reincarnation real~~~or~~~an illusion?

  Well my brother and i spontaneously began this dialogue on the subject of~~~reincarnation~~~not to seek to become better and better people through many lifetimes~~~or~~~to excuse bad behaviour because we'll make up for it later~~~but~~~in order to let  the spirit do it's work fully in people's lives~~~must it not take more than one lifetime to wake up? God's love wouldn't even leave one stray sheep to die alone in the wilderness~~~and so~~~with the short stack that all of us are born into~~~well? How can we realize~~~what life is~~~from this our whacked out perspective~~~our fractured conditioning? Some of us die too young. Some aren't born with a full deck. Some are whacked by their families. Some just by society~~~itself. We all fall through the cracks~~~somehow~~~so to speak. No one~~~gets everything right~~~gets it like they want it~~~ 'cause there are no perfect monkeys~~~on this planet~~~period. Reincarnation would give the spirit an ability to get it done~~~over many lifetimes~~~and the people that I've met that think they they know it all? Well~~~they're the ones that need reincarnation the most. One lifetime? Look around you~~~the people that i see aren't getting very far spiritually. These days are dark. It's a Spiritual Night~~~here within the confines of~~~The Great American Spiritual Desert. It seems as if~~~we all need more time~~~in the oven.

   Everything has a life cycle. Everything dies. Impermanence reigns in space time~~~it even trumps reincarnation. But what holds it all together? I mean all that has been created? There is a timeless consciousness that permeates all that exists~~~and the timeless does manifest itself~~~in time. What creation could exist without a creator? That's the game~~~spiritual hide and seek. God's lost and found. Maya and illusion are forever the essence of all the stories told within space time~~~our lives we live~~~deep within the confines of Plato's Cave. I mean that~~~the most important thing in all of Life~~~seems hidden and missing~~~'cause thought just can't seem to see the creator~~~and therefore~~~God~~~seems missing.

  I guess it's like UFOs~~~you can believe in them~~~but if you happen to see one? Then it's quite a different thing~~~then all belief is irrelevant. So really it's all in the seeing~~~not thought and it's flawed constructs.

   So i guess you're wondering why i would put a picture of Las Vegas Boulevard~~~taken from the 63rd floor of The Encore~~~atop this story of desert and reincarnation. It was the hotel room that i got for the both of us~~~but i really got it for him as i am pretty sure that this would be~~his last night in Vegas. He's not dying or nuthin' but god knows David is no fan of Sin City~~~Las Vegas, Nevada~~~it is what Dr. Hunter S. Thompson referred to as~~~The Savage Heart of The American Dream~~~a place where you're never too far from a mirror~~~and it's hard to find out what time it is. As i looked down upon all the invented environments and their lush trappings~~~and saw what mankind could have created~~~beautiful and adorned spaces with artistry and unique structures~~~and here in Las Vegas, Nevada~~~they had even sprung from the desert floor. Too bad that their foundations have no intrinsic value~~~they are all based on illusion, greed, individual competition, and a bunch of silly monkeys that think that they are so special that they can defeat the Laws of Probability~~~it's like fighting off death~~~and we all know how that one ends~~~but they all try to win what's never been won and do what's never been done~~~and don't you know~~~like they said in Frank Capra's It's A Wonderful Life~~~when a bell rings another angel got their wings? Well~~~every time a horn blows~~~it's just another monkey like Rodney Dangerfield~~~getting no respect~~~and~~~every time a light blinks in Vegas? It means another monkey~~~just lost a bet. Vegas~~~i look out the window and think what might have been~~~all my brother could say was: "They're all Monuments to Stupidity". May be one day we all will have reincarnated so many times that we all can see this~~~and that through such virtue~~~we can see~~~what is~~~and be free~~~of it. I'm not like my brother~~~i did gamble~~~and dug myself a hole at every sit down~~~poker, roulette, and a few machines~~~but it was not like it usually is~~~as i climbed out of every hole~~~seeming to walk away winning 70 bucks or so at every thing i did~~~but i tired of it~~~got tired of the hole. Like gambling or that critter in the tree~~~may be we keep reincarnating until? We tire of the holes we get ourselves stuck in. 

   So~~~at the end of the 3rd day~~~after~~~my brother flew out of Vegas~~~on my last night in town~~~i went to Larry Flynt's Hustler Club~~~& there  a sweet young woman picked me out of the crowd to make some money~~~and we enjoyed each other~~~and our time together~~~so much so~~~that at one point she looked me in the eyes and asked: "Did we know each other in a former life?". I said that i didn't know about those things~~~but? Who knows? All things timeless are related~~~and may be we did~~~but before we went up to the private rooms i asked her if she~~~had any rules~~~'cause i liked her and wanted to stay inbounds. Her reply? "We're gonna break all the rules!". And that's the best thing a woman has said to me in years~~~for underlying such a statement is trust~~~and a hint of~~~what real relationship~~~is all about.

   Me? Reincarnation? What with all the stories of people dying and flying above the operating table~~~and seeing a bright light? With my brother's son's presence appearing to him~~~before he was born~~~telling him his name and that he was going to be a part of his family? I gotta go along with the existence of The Timeless Soul and Reincarnation~~~but what i really long for~~~is the time when All of God's Creatures~~~great and small~~~are as~~~One~~~and return Home~~~into the loving arms of their Creator~~~and~~~i'll take as many lifetimes as it takes~~~on the face of this earth~~~this spiritually barren desert~~~or whatever oven~~~whatever hell~~~that i have to go~~~to get~~~There. 

   And it is my hope~~~that one fine day we will all together~~~pass through the sun~~~each one finding their own way and walking their own path~~~all following the timeless road~~~back to our creator~~~and back to our~~~Timeless Home.

  

Who Killed Keith Olbermann? RIP~~~Countdown~~~January 21st 2011

The Smart Boys in Vegas ought to make this guy the odds on favorite~~~he's The King of Comcast~~~and being the son of the founder there has to be some dark & twisted Shakespearean plot going on here. Comcast wanted to rape Disney so bad a few years ago she had to scream as loud as she could and kick Comcast in the crouch~~~NO! And btw Comcast gave all my personal info to W and made me feel like I was a character in Brave New World. A little sleazy don't you think? And these days they pinned NBC Universal to the floor~~~and who would a thunk it? The Corporate Axe fell so very swiftly~~~chopping keith's head off in a new york minute! Well I got to admit that Keith Obermann & Johnny Miller have a similar effect on people~~~you either love 'em or hate their guts~~~so someone of them new owners musta hated keith with a vengence dont-ya-know? Conservatives love control. It gives them a hard on. Hell Cheny shot a lawyer on vacation when he was VP. Power is a drug don't you know? Well Mr. Whatshisname up there~~~Chairman of The Board of Comcast~~~Lord King of Cable~~~is by my humble estimation one strung out junkie dude and he got his olbermann fix today. So if you want to know what's going on in the world these days~~~the corporate media's Tree of Knowledge just lost one hell of a big branch today~~~and you will know a little less about the world you live in for this loss.. You know~~~it's the power junkies greatest love to bottle something up. Totally control it~~~and they're always surprised at the consequences. No imagination. I wonder if I'm wrong about Mr. Whatshisname up there. Take a real good look at him. What odds do you give him?

Today's American Values and Our Common Welfare Together

The Gipper painted a picture of~~~It's Morning In America~~~all over the American Psyche~~~when he began his presidency~~~way back when. But is the sun coming up~~~or~~~is it going down? Or may be it's just fixed up there in the sky? Morning In America is just an image you know. Nothing real. A way of spinning things that the glass is half full~~~and there is the hope~~~of new beginnings. JFK and Obama used the same tool. Nothing new here. Images don't change a thing. The sun is fixed in the sky. American Political Imagery? Empty words meant to control us. Our authority figures excel in expelling hot air~~~that creates the shifting mirages that arise above~~~the spiritually arid floor~~~of The Great American Spiritual Desert.
Perception changes everything. Seeing things as they actually are~~~or~~~as a web of illusion. If you look at America as a family~~~and all societies are extended families~~~how would you appraise her character? What if you were an American Indian living in the 1700's? Or an American Muslim these days? Or pick your own example. Families take care of their own~~~the sick ones, the old ones, the young ones, the crazy ones~~~those that need the help of others to get through this life. Dysfunctional families breed violence~~~and leave those that can't carry their own weight by the side of the road. Two ongoing wars, inner city gangster gun play, over ten thousand shooting deaths a year, and two million locked up in our prisons~~~and why is it that America is so violent? To others? And to it's self?
Life is impermanent. There is no security. All human beings have more in common~~~than differences. Our deepest experiences in this life are the common things that we all experience. Birth. Consciousness. Love. Sorrow. Suffering. Death. What we share in common are the deepest experiences~~~of all~~~our lives. So why do we leave our brother by the side of the road~~~when one day we will be in the same place?
Our Republic here in America is a beautiful thing for it sees the nature of power and divides it up~~~and democracy recognizes that we all are equal for no matter who you are~~~or think you are~~~it's one person~~~one vote. But Our American Empire? The last thing Eisenhower warned us about? The Military-Congressional-Industrial Complex? When I was young we dropped our napalm on Vietnam and now when I'm old we dropped our smart bombs on Iraq~~~and send out our drones remotely piloted over foreign lands by guys in Las Vegas. Our American Empire? What kind of family acts like this? The immortal hillbilly wars of The Hatfield's and The McCoys were probably a little more civil. Our American Empire~~~like all such power trips throughout history~~~is pure insanity. We're broke~~~and we still pay for all this military crap.
Our society is so far from any vestige of~~~Complete Acceptance and Unconditional Love of Life~~~that to be thrown into the American Marketplace~~~be it dealing in the commodities of manufactured things, personal services, esoteric thought, spirituality, or money itself~~~no matter what you accumulate or how much of it you gather~~~or~~~what you think you then become~~~it's death that lies at the end of everything. Impermanence is the way things are here on Earth. Security? We destroy That Which Is~~~the ecological balance of our planet~~~and our fellow man~~~for something that does not exist. This Life of Illusions can be a very twisted thing.
What kind of family are we Americans? What are our intrinsic values? Will our reverence for individual competition and our greedy accumulations destroy us? You know you have to give up part of your life to help another in need. So~~~having destroyed The Native American Indian Cultures and planted our flag on their shores~~~do you think our family ways can change? We Americans have immigrated here from all over this planet. We are from everywhere on the globe. Can't we identify with it all? Or are we prisoners of a false identity~~~Us Against Them? Or just Individual Egos living in a Pop Porn Cult of Personality~~~and a Culture of Fear?
The Gipper called tomato sauce a vegetable while little kids in America's Ghettos cried for they had nothing to eat. W turned the Military Industrial Complex lose on Iraq for no reason at all and killed kids standing in their front yard. The Republican Party cares not if the same kid gets health care~~~and tried to scare us with the 'pulling the plug on grandma' fiction. The American Corporate Oligarchy just gorged itself on The American Middle Class~~~laying waste to it's investments and shedding the jobs it hasn't sent overseas yet~~~leaving many families by the side of the road. No jobs. Corporate America was just getting rid of the dead wood on their balance sheets~~~improving their bottom line~~~after the latest economic fiasco. Just doing what they do~~~loving money more than people. What a family we are! It's a Culture of Fear created to control us~~~but don't be afraid~~~we're all going to die anyway. That's a fact. And what is it that saves a family? Even one so dysfunctional as ours? While we are alive? It is~~~That~~~Which Is Unconditional~~~and you won't find it in any marketplace.
Look at your own family. What is it that holds you together?

If You Were An American Indian What Would Your Name Be?

HALF RIGHT, founder and sole member of The Nobody Tribal Nation, out standing in his field

"Yeah, go ask Half Right and we'll figure out which half he got right." I can hear it now, and as this is a 'mea culpa' of sorts, it is funny how we 'miss the mark' on some very basic stuff~~~or~~~as Dylan put it (from Blood On The Tracks): "Images, Big Ideas, and Distorted Facts." Hell~~~all thought is limited~~~just some thoughts are more limited than others~~~or~~~as my friend Charley used to say to me all the time: "Thinkin' thinkin' the same Stupid Thoughts." When I was young I thought that technology had the inside track on Truth~~~the early days of TV and all that imagery and attributed meaning~~~probably the way kids now days view Facebook and Twitter and all the rest of it~~~but? The description is not the described. The word is not the thing. Imagery is like sunlight flashing off the watertop~~~a very shallow affair. Thought is just an abstraction. Oh I learned how we live here in The Great American Spiritual desert~~~how we judge one another~~~think ourselves different~~~how we see ourselves as better than the rest~~~but there are more similarities than differences among All of Us~~~All Human Beings~~~past, and present. This world that we live in is A World of Illusion~~~Maya~~~and it's impermanent too. My culture schooled me in illusion. And what is The Truth? About This Life? Life is All In This Moment~~~eternity ever flowing in The Now~~~and it's up to each of us to Live In The Here and Now. That is where All Life Is~~~the past and future are just fictions of thought. Be Here Now. Awaken In The Timeless Moment~~~for all is One~~~connected, whole, alive, sacred~~~and One. Listen to The Spirit with All Your Heart~~~and the funny thing is, like me~~~you'll still only be Half Right. But if we all truly lived so transparently together~~~we might get it more than Half Right :)