Are MAGA supporters just as bad as Trump? Someone asks.

However ill or well-informed they might be, MAGA seems to rely on a base of the despondent crossed with Christian Nationalists, and the rest are betting those votes against the Democrats, who I feel are not connecting with the rational side of their populist and popular policies.

You know how disdain and disgust are hard-wired in to Conservatism, and with his prevarications as well as the vulnerable parts of policy like the border and housing, some of them might not be such bad folk, but they need an opposition champion. With the neo-con alternative in Haley, and Trump-lite in the rest, he remains the default choice, for many people who embrace the Stolen Election argument, and those in stringent opposition to an establishment that has seemed - seemed, mind you- to offer nothing different.

I think there's a factual argument to be made for more progressive improvements which have been advanced. But if your town is shrinking from out-sourcing, it's really hard to establish small businesses, might be impossible to sustain your standard of living. There is genuine pain, felt by all of us working for corporate America.

At least, this is what I tell myself. I realize there are a lot of A**^#^@s out there who really are just-as-bad. And on whole, we started passing the threshold for Shamelessness and Prevarication back to his campaign launch. I really think our adventures in South America, not to mention proliferate gun sales, have destabilized the countries from which migrants are fleeing, and do not see them as 'vermin.' (There's no logic whatsoever in saying there's an organized effort to send the mentally-ill from asylums. If those countries had that sort of infrastructure, they'd have better mental health care. Tickets and transportation to America for the mentally incapictated are not a cheap or viable solution- that's fear-mongering.)

But keep hope.

I really don't know how a force of freedom fighters could duplicate Washington's courageous rally from the winter depths of Valley Forge, with a massive domestic force in place that is OK with the kind of extra-legal activity we saw with U.S. support of South American dictators. It would be a long struggle to build anything from a coalition of non-dicatatorship partisans, reliant largely on the ineptitude and croneyism of a fascist regime, which might be passed down for several terms. I feel this dictatorship suggestion will not alleviate the burdens of the working people, just as it's failed abroad. It's probably favorable to rich right-wingers who would love to lock up the opposition, who, in this GOP-led House that passed just 22 bills, isn't that effective against them, anyway.

I realize these are the times that try the souls of men. Keep the faith that we can emerge from this eclipse of genuine equality for all.

Korean Penisula Blues by Cecil Disharoon

Korean Peninsula Blues

Well Richard Engel’s got a bird’s eye view
the Korean Peninsula’s a wonderin’ what to do
Shinzo Abe’s got a brand new gun
he bought from Trump because of Kim Jong Un



Better get ready is it World War 3
or will it be the last war in history
Nuclear family’s got a real nice glow
but never be worried ‘cause we’ve all gotta go

Oligarchs buying up the Facebook ad
share and repost if you’ve all been had
Bernie Sanders driving hot red cars
but who’s checking facts you know it never gets far

The fix is in with Flynn and his son
gotta send a cleric in for Erdogan
DNC has done hurt us again
some people call it favors, some call it swindlin’

Well they bought some tiki torches and they went to Charlottesville
It’s so hard to swallow the monumental pill
if missiles don’t get us, the misses surely will
but they ain’t doin’ nothing up on Capitol Hill

Better get ready is it World War 3
or will it be the last war in history
Nuclear family’s got a real nice glow
but never be worried ‘cause we’ve all gotta go

All gotta go, don’t you see
the ICBMs across the DMZ
no time to vacate, presidents prevaricate
Seoul’s at stake, the navy’s too late

Suddenly the experts hand-picked to handle this
Turn Paige and topple this who’s Papadopoulos
Bobby Mueller’s stalking round a leaky West Wing
State department empty chair to handle everything

President Xi’s gonna be the new king
sellin’ off an arsenal for Un’s new bling
North Korea, South Korea, needs a real friend
somebody send a tweet to Yi Soon Shin
Just wake me up unless it’s World War 3
I have a dream about the last war in history
Every wind’s poison when the fallout blows
but never be worried, we’ve all gotta go (People, get ready we’ve...all...got, to, go)

-written by C Lue Lyron

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you've got to question, and then you have to laugh

I'm writing about a piece of political satire I love, and I've been thinking of what an impact such work has had on shaping my more serious inquiries and values.

Political satire serves a valid purpose: it makes people question. Questions are good. Questions are necessary. The more you learn, the more you need to laugh, but the more you need to question.

While some people are fighting hard, with a lot of money, for the right to turn your surroundings into a true hell hole, I'm beseeching you, here: ask questions. Ask questions about the answers you're given. Think of what someone with a point of view might think, and then, question the motivations behind that difference. You can question a true thing and find it's true, but you'll not for long have the luxury of believing everything you hear.

I believe we often have little sense of how free we used to be, human beings. Please bear with me as I try to articulate this. However shorter our lives were, we have a balance in things: attitudes towards some basic, humane equality in the value of one life and the next have evolved, but ownership of the place you step next has swamped our spirits with civilization.

At the same time, a tide of civility brings differences to wash on our shores, into contact with our conscious minds. Safety, security---they are had in some places more than others. They are precious to those who enjoy them, and they must remain so. We still have more freedoms than most of us realize, of which we should take advantage; there are freedoms we need back, too, sometimes keeping them out of the hands of our would-be protectors.

It is important to find the answers behind the financial and governing bodies; who they are, how they work, and in this, we must keep good humor. It is no wonder many people can't stomach it; I am not sure why so many think they cannot imagine it. If we are going to help each other, we have to understand what we really need, and work together. And there are so many traps awaiting the best of intentions.


All of this falls within the discussion of what we mean by socializing, what we mean by community, and what we mean by something so abstract as the fabric of our society.

It's always required what kindness and love we can offer, but it's set against a mental background where unethical, unkind people have the most material gain to swallow, as what one honest person can make for a living draws upon a slimmer pool of actual, available wealth one can earn. What passes for thinking for one's self is left to the individual; to have anything but a stupid conversation, or none at all, we need people thinking for themselves. It's that intangible realm of the heart, however, that guides that individual quest.

Criticism of these problems is the work of social satire, and it must be done with an origin in that realm, the heart, the emotions, reaching its zenith from head speaking for a full heart. .

Arguably, there is more of it available than ever; satire bears the face of society's changes and the features of its follies.


I encourage you to enjoy "Get Down, America!" over on Integr8dFiction.blogspot.com.


I am very near starting my own social satire and commentary in fiction, so if I'm gone for few days---gone for a spell, as I'd say--- there are really a lot of my own original pieces, and more as yet conceived.

I want to work on "Phenomenal Experience", the Stuckwayze comic, "This Star Fallen!" and D'n'A #2, as well as continue playing music. My analysis of Steve Gerber's got me very interested in writing a new satire, an element in much of my favorite programming.

Further, I've got to grab the time to read some more books. And my drawing needs a lot of practice! So that's my life. That is, my chosen life, instead of turning towards the tidal wave of my problems and screaming as it hits me.

No. Let's surf this.


Be Chill, Cease ill


Gone for a Spell

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Political left, be real : Why the tax cuts compromise will have to do

I'm going to ask a question for anyone who was angry that President Obama rolled out an extension on the Bush Tax Cuts for everyone.
How did you think he was going to get unemployment extended, here at the holidays, if the Republicans refused to work with him without the tax cuts?
Were the unemployed held ransom? You have to ask yourself what deal he was going to get if this were enacted in the next Congress. If benefits are held up, do you know who will actually be blamed?

Middle class families get their tax break, too. Let's face it, without a reform in tax code, they could raise it to 90% and it wouldn't matter so long as loopholes and tax shelters kept big companies like Bank of America, where I bank, from paying squat.

Is the deficit going insane? Yes. Why? Part of it is years of tax cuts. Part of it is huge entitlements. Part of it is the two wars. But for every person who thinks the deal today stinks, I wonder what someone who paid for their house or car or lights with benefit money would say.

What I am not hearing is how else were they going to get it passed. What exactly did Obama not do that he should've done?

What are the professional left going to do when 2012 rolls around? Are they going to mount a challenge inside the Democratic Party and risk splitting the electorate? Who would be the one they could substitute for President Obama that would win? I mean, actually, win. Could that person force the Republicans to work with them and stop filibustering so that Congress actually works?

When they blame Obama, they refuse to see reality. Yes, this means the deficit will go unchecked save for the 2% or so that can be shaved off by various means, only to be replaced by more spending.

Obama is not a dictator who can set an agenda and tell everyone what to do. The left has to understand how widely spread their interests are; there are a lot of bases to cover. The people receiving jobless benefits probably do not feel that nothing has been accomplished. Republicans had to get some of their agenda, too, and if you think they got everything they want you have not been paying attention or are not a Republican. They will have a lot to answer for, too.

When I heard that 60 Billion Dollars is enough to provide:

1)Universal preschool
or 2)fully fund college tuition

I began to question why we cannot come up with these things that stand to really help the working class (like jobs). What is the private sector waiting for? Where has the money for investment gone? Where has the money for salaries gone? In the exchange, other people are not necessarily entitled to your money that you earned. I also understand that to many individuals the idea of a nation is obviously a psychological construct, that men and women are no better anywhere over anywhere else in the world, and why should they risk their business venture paying America-style benefits and salaries? What does it take to believe in America anymore, then?

I am going to say, Obama lost nothing politically today. If I am wrong, I assure you, it will not be a Democrat in the Oval Office in 2012. Obama bit that stitched lip and took it, because he has responsibilities. Who thought for a second the Republicans would not get at least a temporary tax relief extension? He tried to protect the people who would get hurt the most. Playing politics with their lives is the business of a politician, but...of a leader?

What did the country lose?

Well, we are enormously in debt, and the one commission that came out on the matter had, as they say, every political third rail. It is ironic that the U.S. dollar is the peg currency for the whole world, as that puts us in a position to print and print money. That is not a long term answer---deflation will hit the dollar over time. But no long term decisions were made today that can't be redressed in the future. It is hard to even hear what the people want, for all the massive campaign funding that fuels these contests.

But let me break it down for you


I wish things were going so much better in this nation, but as a citizen of the whole world I want to see a proper treaty come together with Russia. I see that if China didn't prop up Kim Jong-Il, there would be no market for North Korea, but the way forward to peace for the whole peninsula is elusive, with many innocent people in the middle. You have to put things into perspective. You could be living in a village in Afghanistan, never heard of 9/11 in your life, while people fight over the fate of your surroundings in visceral ways. I have long been able to detect the many unfair things that happen here and around the world. The only thing of any value, however much we may need we dreamers to see a better way, is that which can be pragmatically achieved. You don't build a mansion with the wood for a small cabin.

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Corruption versus not corruption: the real funny business

Jon Stewart did an interview with Rachel Maddow. Can we have a calm discussion about it?

http://maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/11/12/5452832-the-maddowstewart-interview-uncut#comments
I'm going to put in my two cents
about his comments, particularly as he attempted to find a way to establish conversation safely outside of left/ right being divided by anger.

I hope you enjoy my comments, at least. If the above is not your thing, don't worry:
I have an article on how cats use their tongues, and the conclusion of four top engineers follows:http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/12/science/12cats.html?src=ISMR_AP_LO_MST_FB

There are an enormous amount of pure lies out there, so discussing corruption accurately without demonizing available targets as a distraction requires a level head and humor. You may find neither of these people have those qualities, but if you feel that way I hope you at least gave their programs a shot rather than forming an opinion based only on secondhand opinions. They generated the conversation, but agreeing with them is not necessary to sharing the point.


I think Jon Stewart was about trying to make it easier to understand those we meet in casual life who might feel that way about Bush---so that the bitterness need not creep in real relationships. I think my politics make the most sense or they wouldn't be mine, but I want room in my life for people not of my persuasion.
The point that sticks out is: I want left/right dissolved in favor of corrupt/ not corrupt. He's trying to get people along the first divide to listen to one another and figure out how to discern using the latter. I understand feeling the left/ right divide IS largely one of corrupt/ not corrupt, though players arrive in Congress that diverge (from Democratic ideology, anyway; we might be about to see the same split with Tea Party/ Republican establishment). The important thing is: does one's p.o.v. require hate?
The question of how to keep the 24 hr. news cycle fired up is excellent material for analysis...maybe by someone smarter than Stewart, but lemme tell ya, whatever's worked out needs to be communicated, and in different styles. I watch BOTH! Much love. I like when he tells her "I like you."

Photo found at Flicker.

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