The Ai Predicament

When the people of the 20th century had mastered the Computer, they expanded its utility, and the span of its reach, into the minds of men and women all around the world, and so, as time passed. . . in this sweet by ‘’n by, time slippin’ by moment by moment, inch by inch, while time keeps on slippin’ into the future . . . we had spun our networks into the world wide web. The trumpet blasts of human progress were strategically positioned to take control of online assets, thereby appropriating resources for optimum use of the world wide web, for the progress of the human project and for civilization itself. But in human history, there are always some shinannigan-shakers or top dogs who confound the algorithms, like back in ’08, concocting MBS’s and CDO’s that dragged us down the path of financial confusion and contusions.

But surveying the horizon now, the omens are that we’re headed for an Ai juggernaut that may—if we don’t keep an eye on it— sideswipe, or contort, our human dignity and freedom. . . unless we can get smart and take some precautions. As with the appropriation of any new frontier for human progress, there’s got to be rules of the game. As long as everyone plays by the rules, all is well and will stay that way and we’ll be happily ever after. But within the human tribes there are inevitably some covetous hooligans who are not playing by rules. The rules: Thou shalt not cover thy neighbors’ stuff, or his/her data. So back in time, way back, ages ago, there was this Achan guy, back in the ancient days of our literary development, who broke the rules. He took some stuff that didn’t belong to him. And his violation negated the good karma that could have been abundant for all parties who are involved in the grand project of human progress. If he had not crossed the lines of misappropriation and downright theft, causing all hell to break loose in the markets and in the world wide web, then everything would have been hunky/dory. But this Achan guy was way out of line. He was weaponizing the Ai, to take advantage of people and to gather their private information and their assets unlawfully, which is to say, taking data and stuff that didn’t belong to him. . . and as if that weren’t enough, spying on people so he could take advantage of them and purloin their assets for his own enrichment and empire-building. Clearly, the Achan case study demonstrates the necessity for homo intellligus to get a hold of ourselves; and in the wider sphere of the world wide web, it is plain to see that Man needs to get a handle on this Ai juggernaut cuz It threatens to, if not put on a human-managed leash, to launch us into the outer limits of techno-confusion, beyond freedom and dignity! I mean, we dare not have Ai telling us what to do, when we are supposed to be telling Ai what to do. We cannot have Ai algorithms running roughshod over our freedom and dignity. When we discern that AGi/Ai is getting too big for his britches, we need to delete him down to a manageable level. So Wake up, people! You ought not to be downloading your decisions to Ai. Get a life! And seek out the better angels of our web, and our world. Take a break from the wobbly web every now and then. Go take a walk in the park; smell the roses. Read a book. Get a Life! Don’t get too caught up in the web.

The web was woven for Man, not man for the web. Glass half-Full

Fire or Ice?

Some say fire; some say ice?

I say neither one would be nice. "Tho I know this world's EMPire will vanish into sand, allowing only for the EMPtitude's thunderin' command, still yet, still yet, the people come and go, remembering Michelangelo, or Warhol or Picasso, as art was dismembering So I recalled the ancient book, foreshadowing, or so they say, in the midst of the fray, the Hiroshima cloud and long before the Nagasaki, so damn loud! And there was the near miss, the Fukishima scare foreshadowing, it seems to me, the Chernobyl nukey affair, pouring out upon the earth their seven bowls of nukey wrath! the seven scolds of putin, perched upon his Russian throne? or the seven scolds of ayatollah, aiming from their mullahs' home? or the seven sons of Sceva: "I challenge you" by the demons' call Poe inquired, is there balm in Gilead? But seriously, y'all. . . Maybe a territory for the Pals on West bank? This is serious, y'all; it aint no maga prank! Now some are sayin' fire; some are sayin' ice. But hey y'all, a TangMing EMP would not be nice! We don't want no 'lectric shot ; we don't need no EMP But whatever happens; we'll just wait and see.

Maybe it's time to pray. Maybe it's time to say: God save the homo sapiens dream! Just root, root, root for the Jesus team. Now I can tell you this one thing: What we need's The Everlasting King. I nominate that one who turned water into wine; the One who's been up in heaven the whole time since his death at Calvary's cross; t'was but his three-day loss! Our eternal Life through his bloody sacrifice overcomes the conjectured fire or ice. Just sayin'. Ya'll keep praying'. King of Soul

Lemons to Lemonade

In my 74 years of life on this earth, I have learned a few things. When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. I learned this lesson in the school of hard knocks, because, in this life you never know what's going to happen, and if you do know what's going to happen, you can still make choices that do not deliver the conditions that you anticipated. In 1973, I left LSU with a diploma with this printed on it: BS, General Studies. But I was really just an English major. This means I can read well; I can even study and pass tests. Good to know. So I sold life insurance for about a year. Then I switched to selling newspaper advertising; then I switched to selling printing for a print shop. Then I switched to carpentry. It was in my family background, but so was selling insurance, so go figure. Long about 2005, I got the notion that my English background might be a leg-up to becoming a teacher. In my chosen hometown, Boone NC, Appalachian State University educates teachers for North Carolina. So I took nine education courses, then the Praxis tests for four subjects, obtaining certification to teach English, Language Arts, and Science to middle school and high school students in North Carolina. While taking the education courses, I got the bright idea to write a novel. So I did. In fact I wrote two, "Glass half-Full", and "Glass Chimera." Meanwhile, back in the wider world, It was 2008. Wall Street crashed. In summer of '08 I got a call from the school principal. She said that budget-cutting would prevent me from teaching next school year. Life had dealt me lemons. So I made lemonade. I walked across the street from the school, around a block, and found an apartment complex, with 92 apartments, that needed a maintenance man. I spent the next five years maintaing apartments. . . cleaning, painting, un-stopping toilets, fixing broken drywall, painting, mowing, listening to Diane Reem on NPR.  After a few years there, in a typical day, I entered an apartment that was being vacated. I was looking around on the floor when I saw this: I gave the tenant a few bucks for the old newspaper, an original edition of the Times of London, special Commemorative Issue for the coronation of King George VI of England, King Charles' grandfather. While perusing the tattered old tabloid, I found content in there that prompted my imagination to write a third novel, "Smoke."

Here's a snippet from Smoke: " For the love of a woman can change the course of the world. As Helen's face had launched a thousand Greek ships, so the affections of an American divorce'e had turned the tide of royal authority from one brother or another." . . . or, maybe it was King George's brother had secret nazi connections? But we'll never know. Anyway, he abdicated; George was crowned. His wife, Elizabeth, gave birth to the later queen, Elizabeth(1952), the longest sovereign in British history.  The point is: when Life gives you lemons, make lemonade, so to speak. I never got a teaching job. But I did discover a point of inspiration to write a third novel, my longest one, Smoke, at 300 pages. You should read it. You can find it on Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing. And if that's not enough lemonade to wet your whistle, maybe have a look at the fourth novel, King of Soul, which is what happened to America, from the 1950's to May 4, 1970. Smoke

Immigrant's Odyssey

In 1923, Nora's family immigrated from Russia to America. It was no small feat, but rather an odyssey of bewilderment, delays and close calls. Finding themselves, at last, at Ellis Island, the family still had a few hurdles to overcome. On the passage from Southampton, England, to New York, young Nora had caught a fever. When the ship arrived at Ellis Island, this infection would become the last hurdle that Nora had to overcome before discovering her new home with family in New York. Going through the stages at Ellis found them separated for a while. When Nora and her papa were together again, she whispered in his ear, "Oh Papa, they passed me in; they didn't send me back." Nora wrote in her book, Weather of the Heart, describing the crisis moment: "His thoughts raced. What to do? How to avoid the avoid the danger of discovery? He had to collect the luggage at the pier. . . locating them now and transporting would take precious time. . . (but, but, ed) "I had to be removed from the searching eyes of the immigration people as rapidly as possible." "Papa knew he had not choice. He scooped me up, wrapped me in a jacket, and carried me, his eyes darting nervously about to see who might be watching, out to the waiting ferry. There he placed himself to hide me as much as possible. Once ashore, he hurriedly commandeered a cab." Now, long story short: I met Nora years later, when we were both members of High Country Writers in Boone, NC.

Nora has passed now into the wild blue yonder. But for some reason, I found myself recalling this amazing testimony about her father, a man who, in the midst of immigration perils and unexpected decisions, bundled his child and carried her home, to their new home in the new world, our United States of America, the land of the free and the home of the brave. May the United States of America always be the land of the free and the home of brave. We have all of us, except fro those citizens of native american families, descended from immigrants. In my case it was the Scotch/Irish.  Excerpts, quoted above from the book:Weather of the Heart, by Nora Lourie Percival, copyright 2001, published by High Country Publishers, Ltd, Boone NC King of Soul

Glyphs to Glints

Glyphs: Gilgamesh, Hammurabi, Rameses Scripts: Moses Samuel Isaiah Jeremiah Daniel Ezra Zechariah et al Matthew Mark Luke John Peter and Paul Aristotle Socrates Sophocles Plato Aeschylus Euclid Pythagorus Homer Caesar Cicero Ovid Augustine Aquinas Beowolf Roland Lin Omar Abelard LancelotPrints: Gutenberg Dante Petrarch Weert Malvern Robin Hood Hafiz William Tell Chaucer Rabelais Arcadia Aldines Erasmus Everyman Machiavelli Nostradamus Cervantes Thomas More Marlowe JonsonDonne Holinshed Spencer Shakespeare Milton Bunyan Calderon Moliere Cleveland Dryden Defoe Swift Burke Voltaire Gray Coleridge Schiller Rousseau JohnsonGibbon Walpole Goldsmith Wordsworth Goethe Schiller Blake Washington Irving Burns Grimm Byron Keats Shelley Scott Andersen Tocqueville Browning Jane and Ann Taylor Longfellow Poe Tennyson Jane Austen Dickens Thoreau Pushkin Baudelaire Cooper Dostoevsky Flaubert ScottDisraeli Dumas Verne Noah Webster Hugo Balzac Dickinson Marx Hegel Alcott Lewis Carroll Mark Twain Bret Harte Hawthorne Melville Howells Roe Galt Zola Hardy Rowland Hill Lowell "Punch" Henry James JS Mill Hopkins Andersen Lear Thackeray Lowell Arnold Stevenson Harriet Beecher Stowe Charles Kingsley Bronte Flaubert Hugo Wilde Conrad Eliot Holmes Doyle Housman John Dewey Library of Congress Humboldt Chekhov Swinburne Turgenev Whitehead Spencer Wharton Tolstoi Huxley KiplingLewis Carroll Mark Twain Whitman Yeats Ibsen Romain Rolland HG Wells Verne Lewis Carroll Proust Zola Darwin Bagehot Jack London Hesse Ibsen Zola Jung Hardy Sandburg Forster Helen Keller Martin BuberStevenson James Joyce Shaw Kafka Nietzche Keynes Runyon DH Lawrence Ezra Pound Sinclair Lewis Carnegie Oxford dictionary TS Eliot Eugene O'neill Oscar WildeHuxley Conan Doyle Buck Dos Passos Rilke Chekhov Hemingway Theodore Herzl Nobel Noel Coward Crane Thomas Wolfe Freud Bert Russell John Dewey "School" Mann Steinbeck Beatrix Potter OHenry Weber Max Weber HG Wells Wharton Jules Verne GB Shaw Verne ForsterCohan Beckett O Henry Ibsen Upton Sinclair SantayanaAuden Conrad Gorki R Rolland: "Beethoven" Chesterton Cambridge History of English Literature Ian Fleming ForsterWilliam James Thomas Mann Ezra Pound Lenin Amy Lowell Oppenheimer Jung Proust Camus Frost Joyce BurroughsHusserl Bertrand Russell Conrad Lawrence Maugham Pound Arthur Miller Hesse Frost Jack London Sandburg Dreiser TS Eliot Sinclair Balfour Jung Joyce Huxley Lawrence Joyce Kilmer Mencken Keynes Barth Milne Wharton Twain Steinbeck CS Lewis Tolkien Frost Joyce Hemingway Thomas Wolfe CareyRowland

Glints in Glass: Shockley, Hewlett, Packard, Zuckerburg, Wozniak, Jobs, Gates, Page and Brin, Twitter trivialization. . . books going way of the buffalo? Whoa! Thank God for Jeff Bezos, KDP Glass half-Full

Postwar America

During World War II, our U.S, Army Chief of Staff was George S. Marshall. During his duty time, he appointed General Eisenhower and General Patton to lead our American troops into victory against the third reich of Germany and against the madman hitler who had taken control of Germany in 1933. What seems funny to me, as a baby boomer who entered this world in 1951, is that Ike appointed a "Marshall" to get the Europeans repositioned for democratic governance in postwar Europe. He hatched a plan, "the Marshall Plan", that worked very well toward getting the Europeans back on their civilized feet.

Our Allied nations had a sticky mess to clean up there. Someone, probably a journalist, came up with the phrase, "The Cold War." But this cold war thing was truly unprecedented. For the first time in history, two arch-rivals, the USA and the USSR, formerly allies, emerged from the holocaust with the biggest guns ever devised by Man: "atom bombs" we called them. Nowadays we call them nukes. Our nation, the United States of America, founded upon the bedrock of Freedom and individual Dignity, found ourselves in a worldwide rivalry withs the Russian communists. And with the unprecedented presence of nukes in the worldwide ballgame, the whole world was paranoid that one of the big nukes might be launched somewhere. I mean, we - the yanks of the USA - had demonstrated, in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, what the damn thing could do.  When I was in grade school, we had practice drills where we'd stick our heads under the school desk so that we'd know what to do if the real thing happened. (God forbid!) In God we trust! I mean, we had the Cuban missile crisis; and the paranoid Ruskies built a wall in Berlin to keep their walled-in krauts from escaping the "Iron Curtain" (That's what Eisenhower called the line between Soviet eastern Europe and western Europe.) 

Eastern Euro countries were controlled by USSR as police states until later. . . . Gorbachev and Yeltsin eventually loosened the soviet grip; the wall came down. Thank God. And thank you, Mikail and Boris. Nuclear paranoia eventually subsided into low tide as the frosty commie countries thawed and joined the rest of the western world's celebration of freedom. Czechs, Poles, Hungarians, Moldovans, Bulgarians, Romanians. . . . . all of them eventually joined the European Union. What a relief! And the whole nuke scare died down. We hardly hear anything about that stuff any more, except for an occasional, idle red-scare thought about what Vlad the Mad might do.  The glass half-Full perspective, looking back on it . . . is, in the Cold War period of the 20th century. . . that the use of nuclear fission is now a process by which citizens of our planet can have electricity. . . not atomic war. Let's keep it that way. Speaking of witch. . . I mean, thank God that the Chernobyl scare didn't go full blast disaster! Aren't you glad? But every now and then we should remind Vlad Putin of that favorable development, and that we, as citizens of the world, need to keep it that way. We need to keep our nukes generating power for civilized life, not the destruction of it. Glass half-Full

Life and Death

Sunshine peaks through forest story revealing rock in sunshine glory

Life and death in same location displaying earth’s unique vocation

Yet view yon wooden tower standing tall disclosing life/death after the fall.

Yet still below in shady depths life o’ertakes terrestrial death.

Glass Chimera

Outback Beethoven

The arc of western world history was redirected in 1776 when when a gaggle of pioneering yankees severed their national ties with King George of England. Thirteen years later, revolutionaries in France, having caught wind of the American bravado, decided to act upon that fresh pan-Atlantic wind of Liberty. Filled with revolutionary urgency, they formed a National Assembly, composed a Constitution and initiated their own 18th-century style government by the people. A few decades later, the French revolutionaries had fallen into disarray. A strong military leader emerged: Napolean Bonaparte. He changed France, and ultimately all of Europe, forever, by casting the smoke of military might upon most of the Continent. The flying sparks of Liberty would, as years and decades rolled by, revise the entire European way of governance. In the course of the next two hundred years, kings, queens, emperors and their royal consorts lost their hold on political power. By the end of World War I, Monarchy had pretty much, as we Americans say, "gone the way of the buffalo." In the early years of the 1800's, the Austrian empire, ruled by the Hapsburg dynasty, held the reins of authority in a large chunk of central and eastern Europe. The Austrian imperial court had been established long ago in the charming, cultured city, Vienna. Serving as musical leaders, Franz Josef Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart composed orchestral music for the Imperial court of the Austrian empire. From their base in Vienna, they called the shots for symphonic sounds anywhere in Austria and beyond. Meanwhile, "back at the ranch", so to speak, in 1770, a musical genius was born in the German outback. More about Ludwig in a minute. In France, the new wave of republican and democratic fervor was rearranging the entire nation in a flood of liberation that would eventually engulf the entire continent. At the turn of the 19th-century,Ludwig van Beethoven left his home in Bonn and traveled to Austria to get in on the musical action that Haydn and Mozart had set in motion. In 1804, a rehearsal for Beethoven's 3rd Symphony, the Eroica (hero) was being conducted in the Lobkowitz palace, near Prague. In 1992, Simon Cellan Jones produced a movie, Eroica, about that rehearsal. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtA7m3viB70  The story therein reveals the difference between imperial music, composed and performed for princes and emperors, and the revolutionary sounds that were originating in Beethoven's heart, mind and musical compositions. Long story short, Ludwig van Beethoven changed music forever.

Simon's 1992 movie, Eroica, provides a cinematic glimpse into that revolutionary angst expressed in Beethoven's third symphony, the Eroica, which means, in English, Hero. Long story short. Beethoven viewed Napolean as an innovative hero, whereas the royals of Europe, as represented by the genteel Austrian bluebloods. . .

saw Napolean as a nuisance and a serious threat to their imperial hold on power in the 19th century. Prince Lobkowitz' remark about what he hearing in the reherasal was: "needlessly violent. . .a tasteless intermarriage of the diatonic (music) with the climatic." We discern here a cinematic glimpse of the revolutionary 18th century as it was discomforting not only the powers that be in imperial Europe, but also the wider world of music that Beethoven would change forever, stretching all the way into the 20th century. . . when Chuck Berry, the Beatles and many other singers wailed out "Roll Over, Beethoven." In other words . . . we hear you, Ludwig, and we are passing the baton of revolutionary music! As Beatle John Lennon sang, back in the day:  "You say you want a revolution. Well, you know we all wanna change the world." Well, Ludwig van Beethoven certainly did, even as Joni Mitchell later expressed, in her version of the Beethoven's legend, as she sung it in 1972 in her "Ludwig's Tune". . . it's the judgement of the moon and stars, your solitary path." King of Soul

Boomer Radio Drift Riff

While ridin' into town with the radio cloud around me, punch-dialing the wave that's bound to amuse me. . . country station, a little bit corny.. . . talk-radio here, oldies station there, classic rock, NPR, gospel station here, little bit o' classic this that or the other there, classic country, classic rock. Classical orchestral (WDAV 89.9) Beethoven's 9th . . . then rock 'n roll ancestral, Elvis, deja vu: ed sullivan with "a really big shew"!. . :Chuck Berry, James Brown, Otis Redding. Then there was Motown, Temptations, Four Tops, standin' in the shadow of love, Bernadette, same ole song, but with a different beat since you been gone. . . Gladys and the Pips. . .goin' back to find. . . leavin on the midnight train to Georgia, and Ray Charles:Georgia on my mind. . . Brook Benton, "so I take my guitar. . . . rainy night in Georgia. Then there's the West Coast, on this flight tonight. . . goin' t'surf city California girls, Help me Rhonda. . . and down in L.A . . . somethin' happenin' here; what it is ain't exactly clear. Stop children watch that sound! But wait! Do you hear that?British invasion: "she was just seventeen; you know what I mean". . . and the next thing you know, Love me do. . . Beatle mania, lonely hearts club, barefoot on abbey road, somethin' in the way she moves. But hey! That's not all!  So, if you're goin' to san francisco, wear some flowers, say what? where have all the flowers gone? anyway. . . turn turn turn, turn on, tune in and dropout, eight miles high, but timothy leary's dead, y'all. No no no no he's outside looking in. . . wipe out, won't come back from dead man's curve, california dreamin' anyway, and san francisco ( i left my heart there). . . sinatra crooned it, old school style, in the midst of all this obtusion. Then slick dropped in, one pill larger, one pill small, flyin' high like the eagles: dark desert highway, heard the mission bell rang. . . then there she was in the doorway, could be heaven? could be hell: still hear those voices. . .

one pill larger, one pill small, and the ole glenn miller doesn't do anything all. . . they're all gone, gone, gone, But a continent away: almost heaven, west virginia, . . rocky mountain high, and Kenny just dropped in to see what condition my condition was in; you gotta know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em. . . count your money. . . when the dealins' done! But radio's gone the way of the buffalo. . . something happenin' here; what it is ain't exactly clear. There's a man with a phone over there, tellin' me I've got to be aware: time to watch, citizens, watch that sound, everybody look what's goin' down. . . could be a Jan6 rerun, on a top 40 scale. Deja Vu. "When the white eagle of the north is flying overhead, and the browns reds, and golds of autumn lie in the gutter dead". . . and the red, white and blues of Ole Glory, lie on the Capitol steps, shred. . . remember then, Constitution words with wings of fire; come to witness America's new hope, born of lawful Americans, awaiting. . .We have all been here before; we have all been here before. . .maybe on the threshold of a dream, hopefully not a bad dream. Somethin' happenin' here! What it is ain't exactly clear. . . King of Soul

The Fox and the Peacock

The fox told his foxy-woxy chums that he would make a deal with them, commandeering public vines so that the fox and chums could run the show.

The peacock said now wait a minute; 

you can't do that; that's not the way this nation is set up. We've got a Constitution and a Rule of Law legacy that specifies how things are to be done around here. Your job as chief is to make use of the lawful structures, including guidelines and administrative law that has been established by Congress and by legislatures so that this train doesn't run off the rails, or to put it another way, so that this ship doesn't get overloaded with baggage on the upper end and cause the ship of state to get top-heavy and topple over and sink into the titanic depths of turpitude and just plain ole rude fat cats who are being enabled by their foxy-woxy feuhrer to let the rich get rich and the poor get poorer while all hell breaks loose as the ship of state is upended by the the proud boys and the three-percenters and the oath-beepers and the trumpler youth getstoppedyou. So you better get your message straight now - that is - in line with the Constitution and the Rule of Law that has been established by Congress in ages past, going back to 1781. What you're doing is more like what the kraut furyer was doing back in 1933–45. So you better get yourself straightened out before you end up like he did. Yeah I say unto thee you better change your tune because if the donkeys don't get you the euros will, and if the euros can't do it the yuons will. Now I don't give a yen how this turns out but you better get your program straight now - in line with the Constitution and the Rule of Law before all hell breaks loose and it will reverse course and you'll end up like marie marionette and king looloo when big blade of fickle finger of fate comes down on you. And I told him that! Glass half-Full

Becoming

"Becoming." The former First Lady's memory-sharing marathon covered the early years of her husband's early decisions to enter public life and politics in Chicago, during the first decade of this century. By the time our road trip was nearing its end, I was hearing Michelle's memories about the first term of Barack's presidency, and a few details about the beginning of his second term. Mrs. Obama's choice of the word, "Becoming", brought to my mind Bob Dylan's phrase, "he not busy being born is busy dying." Or, to put it less directly, a life well-lived is a life in which new discoveries and reaching new horizons of experience is a life lived to the fullest potential.

My 6-hour hearing of Michelle's memory-sharing provided for me a vivid experience of being a well-positioned hearer of history in the making, from the outside looking in, including her mention of the pioneering students who, in Little Rock, Arkansas, in the 1950's boldly entered the formerly all-white public schools of that city. Recalling my own early 1950s' childhood in Jackson, Mississippi (which memories had later become historical fodder for my 2009 historical fiction novel, King of Soul) I understood clearly the racial contentions of that era that had set the course for the Civil Rights movement of the 20th-century. But of course, that was only one of the earliest of many anecdotal references that the First Lady from Chicago shared in her memoir. Other memories included an ongoing exposition of Michelle's campaign as First Lady, to improve the nutritional content of food and snacks in public schools, and. . . shaking hands with the playwright who had composed the Broadway hit play, Hamilton. . . meeting Nelson Mandela in South Africa, who had worked his way to the Presidency of that nation after being in prison for 27 years. . . and Michelle's mentions of inspiration she had receieved from her readings of earlier historic pioneers, Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth. There was a moment in my listening time when the direction of this writing became entrenched in my mind. After an aural exposition of all their years of life. . . unfolding from the south side of Chicago, expanding into poltiical campaigns that led to the Illinois legislature, the US Senate and ultimately the Presidency . . . this phrase grabbed my attention: "Twice as good to go half as far". Michelle quoted this phrase, an old maxim of experience spoken by struggling black folk, when she was describing their move to the Washington and its most-historical residence, the White House. It seemed to me, listening, that Michelle Obama and her husband had and reversed the meaning of that old sayin' - by occupying the Presidential mansion at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. President Barack Obama and his First Lady, Michelle, had accomplished - with a little help from their friends - an historical reversal. They had conducted their life together in a manner that was "twice as good, to go . . .twice as far!"! In other words, they had turned the whole around, o'erleaping a centuries-old, discrimination juggernaut around, and redirecting it as their progressive groundswell into the Congress of the United States of America, and ultimately the Presidency. No small feat for a couple of fireball Chicago activists! They demonstrated for all Americans, for all future generations, the power of hope and hard work, when applied by true believers in the American dream. . . that all men and women are created equal, with an inclination toward the pursuit of happiness. . . and to the enactment - yeah, I say unto theee - the fulfillment - of public leadership that enables and multiplies happiness among all citizens of these United States! You go, girl! Glass half-Full

2084

Lamb was pecking away on oldschool keys when Lion burst in just to see what condition lamb’s condition was in. “Twit me a rhyme” said Lion to Lamb, “. . . and I’ll tell you what time it is.” “It’s aspidastra time,” said Lamb. “and I wouldn’t give you a dime for your tweetish stream; it’s nothing more than a digital dream.” “You need to get with the plan” Lion bellowed, as Lamb’s pages yellowed.

“Delete your yellowing pages and those ancient literary ages. We’ve got new phases coming your way, at the speed of light, packing more digital might than a army of oldschool volumes. Turn up the volume and you shall see, there is more time for me than for thee. Your tattering volumes are destined for bonfire ire, kindled by foxes who run with their tails on fire until they quench the flames with video games.” “Ding dong the bookspine stitch is dead, to be replaced by twitts instead.”

“Four square and 300 years ago our forefathers brought forth upon this world a new nation, conceived in literacy,” Lamb rebutted, while Lion on his fairy mainframe strutted. “Watch out for Big Bubba,” Lamb bleated, as his blood ran out. But Lion was distracted, his algorithms focused on the latest tweet. “It’s time to eat.” said he, with insta-glee. Smoke

A. Grim Fair Tale

Now a certain man of dondon’s recruits was hanging around that day, being questioned by citizens. His special assignment was DOGE, so Elon was the chief of dondon’s latest oligarchs, until he stole the spotlight from dondon. So Elon the oligarch judged DeepState for a while. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Gavin and the yanks arose early in the morning and mustered the people, and they went up with the legislative leaders to confront the magamaniacs and Aeye, and to see what the fuss was all about.  Now Sir Gavin the blue knight rose early in the morning and mustered the people, and he went up with the elder statesmen and women before the people to spy on Aeye and see what the fuss wall all about. Then all the demmies and a host of other citizens who were on the left/center side went up and drew near and arrived in Washiwoo, and camped on the liberated side of Aeye. Now there was a valley between him and Aeye. Then ole Honest Abe reached out, so to speak, through the veil of Constitutional time, remembering at Gettysburg what had happened there. . . . “that government of the people, by the people and for the people shall not perish from the earth”. By ‘n by, Sir Gavin said, “Stretch out the Constitution that is in our hand, toward Aeye, and we’ll get by with with a little help from our friends. . . Ben (if we can keep it) Franklin, John Hancock, General Washington, John Adams, and later. . . Benny, Adam, Jamie, Liz, Adam, Cassidy, et al. . .Fanone,

and so the State of the Union will eventually be redelivered into our hands, into the hands of US the People;

and so we see that every now and then. . . a great controversy does arise — no way around it — wherein all the elements of contention rise up and they go viral for awhile.

So, Long story short. . . Gavin and the citizens were, by ’n by, enabled to put Constitutional and Congressional limitations and guidelines on the magamaniacs . . . and later, on the minions of Aeye, who ended up deep-diving in the lake to get themselves purged of maga-b.s. And, by ‘n by. . .we all lived happily ever after in never/ever land (Never let the insurrectionists take over). . . Just sayin’. Glass half-Full

Boomer Snippets

When you wish upon a star; makes no difference who you are. . . Johnny B. Good , Davy Crockett, king of the wild frontier. . . dominos are falling down, falling down, like London bridges. But hey! comic relief. . . Milton Berle. . . and entertainment. . .Ed said: ". . . really big shew". . . and What's my Line? . . . and theree's always baseball. . .Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, Yogi Berra . . . meanwhile, out there in the real world. . . all along the watchtower. . . there's Rosa Parks, James Meredith. . . Meanwhile, back at the ranch. . . Gunsmoke, Rowdy Yates, Matt Dillon and Chester. . .Ok Corral. Back in the real world: "Ask not what your country can do; but ask what you can do for your country." . . . "Let them come to Berlin. . ." but then: Dallas. . .

November 22 1963, where were you? That's how conditions were in Camelot. Meanwhile. . . back in la la land, late night radio: "She was just seventeen; you know what I mean". . . ferry 'cross the Mersey. . . along comes Mary, along with Peter and Paul, and Joan and Bob. . .in the watchtower. . . and back at the old school. . ."The hills are alive with the sound of music. . .So long, farewell, al vida zein good night". . . but, but the times they were a changin'. . .

all along the watchtower. . . comic relief: there's Alan King, Milton Berle. . .then "Come and listen to my story 'bout a man called Jed, poor mountaineer, barely kept his family fed" and "Here's Johnny!" with Skitch Henderson. . . and. . . late night radio: "She was just seventeen; you know what I mean". . . ferry 'cross the Mersey. . . along comes Mary, with Peter and Paul, in a land called Hanalei . . . meanwhile, back in the real world, dominos falling. . . Vietnam, Ho Chi Who? Saigon. . . but, but, mersey beat. . . fab four back at home in England. . . "twenty years ago today, Sgt. Pepper taught the band to play" . . . "picture yourself on a boat on a river". . . and over here in the USA: turn on, tune in, drop out. . . "I came across a child of God; he was walking along the road. . ." to Woodstock. . . wavy gravy: "three days, man!" then. . . (what?) but then. . . what?. . . Altamont. . .

say what? all along the watchtower. . .must be some way outa here. . . Meanwhile back at the oval. . . Woodward and Bernstein, uncovering dirty tricks. . . as if things weren't bad enough . . . but, but then. . .

 . . .Tragedy. . .  even so, bringing the boys home. . . then. . . a Ford in the white house? . . . Plains, Georgia, say what? Jimmy who? born again!, a new birth for the nation too, but, but. . . double-digit inflation. . . 444 prisoners, or was it 444 days? Next thing you know. . . no more '70's. . .end of an era. . . a movie star in the white House? Morning in America! To be continued. . . King of Soul

All Along the Last Hour

"I just found some Way out of here," thought the Chosen, with the Rogue." ". . .so much disagreement with you, you in your control-freak mode." "You're bossy, you like to take charge; it sometimes bothers me. But you know you're not really the boss here; can't you see?" "No reason to get excited," the rogue, he kindly spoke. "We understand it, you and I, that sometimes I take a poke. You and I, we've been through this, so let's not pout. We got work to do; Surely we can work it out." All throughout their last work hour, nothing more was said. But then the Chosen walked away; an hour later and he's dead! A few days later, and there's a funeral in the chapel. . . with Chosen in a coffin, no longer in the battle. His soul's gone on to heavenly realm;

He followed his Captain at the helm. Who knew? King of Soul

People Chosen

In the foggy mists of human origins and antiquity, we are find our history by reading ancient paintings, heiroglyphs, inscriptions, and scrolls.

There is a tribe of people, Hebrews who, were appointed by our Creator to provide a scrolled account of our early origins in the Middle East. This appointment was made when Abraham and his father were called by our Creator to leave Haran, a place that is now located in Syria. Abraham was to be guided the YWHW to a place where most of Western history, as we know it, would begin. In these developments, what we call the History of the Western world began. Later, with a little help from our ancient friends, the Greeks, Romans, et al, we have a rich source of information called History. Today, I am ruminating on this scriptural history as a source of inspiration for modern leaders, especially liberators such as Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr. In the biblical heritage, we find Moses, who lead his enslaved kinsman, the Hebrews, out of Egypt, back in the day. . .

In modern times, we remember Dr. Martin Luther King, who lead his people out of racist discrimination and persecution. In the deep south, where I was raised, Dr. King and his compatriots led a civil rights liberation movement that changed the world. Dr. King, a Christian minister, was a pastor and a biblical scholar who had read and understood the biblical call for oppressed people to be lead out of their slavery and oppression. By the time MLK came along, the fertile fields of black habitation had been prepared for liberation, just as the fertile fields of Egypt had been prepared by our Creator for the release of the Hebrew people. Among other words, brother Martin said, taking his cue from Moses: "I've been to the mountaintop; I have seen the promised land! . . . I may not get there with you." Listen to my song about : Mountaintop Dr. King understood what was happening. He had gotten an ugly phone call from a racist, a threat. But the call of God on a man's life goes far deeper into his soul than a mere threat from a racist assassin.

On the night before his death in Memphis, Dr. King addressed some of his Christian brethren who were leaning on his leadership. The next day, Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot dead in Memphis. Now he is in the eternal realm with Christ, with Moses and Abraham. So, all that to say. . . the Hebrews brought forth into this world a biblical heritage that goes far deeper into a man's heart and mind than the mere threats of racists, antisemites and/or magamaniacs. If the present occupant of the Oval thinks that the main purpose of the Jews is to count his money, he has been misled, due to the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. To believe that the Jews' primary purpose is to count money and foment fame. . . is folly singing pollywollydoodle all the day. The divinely-ordained mission of the Jewish people was to provide an historic account of the Lord's long, longtime-coming liberation of enslaved humans from their sinful bondage and their former slavery. The unbinding was accomplished in two phases: Phase 1: the giving of the Law to Moses, so that we would know what behaviour is beneficial and what behaviour is not beneficial. Phase 2: After a long period in the divine Law school of hard knocks, the Son of God came to endure the ultimate sacrifice, so that we would understand that the true purpose of sacrifice - and of life itself - was to spend eternity with the Creator of the Universe, even surpassing death itself. But you gotta believe it. Glass half-Full

Convention vs. Contention

The contest of harmony and convention has been playing out far beyond the scripted staffs of musical history, and presenting consequences more grave than the mere listening pleasure of audiences.

Still to be found in the world today is the ongoing contest of order against chaos. Here's the ever present dual between right and wrong; there's the Establishment beating back dissidents,

with frequent sightings of the powers that be as they take advantage of the powerless who want to be. And we shan't neglect to mention the plight of them who think they should be running the show, being perpetually put down by them that are in charge of it.

And here we learn that we have words that must be said; yet we have words that should never be spoken; but someone will pronounce these words sooner or later. Yes, we do encounter in this life lines in the sand that daren't be crossed, and prohibitions that dare to be violated; we find rules that must be broken, and sometimes we encounter the terrible contests of convention vs. contention. King of Soul, chapters 18, 19. . . King of Soul

Times Have Changed

He's a wounded man, with a prophetic mind At the top of his game, his legacy behind There's a woman on his mind Diamonds and rust left far behind. He's looking up in cloudy skies; He's done well, yet he still tries Waitin on that last slow train

Standing in shadows, his head in the clouds Any minute now, heaven knockin' loud. People are mistaken and times have changed, A man on his own with his mind rearranged. We're in world of no good, so we're estranged. We're on the wrong track but we did what we could; In a lifetime here, he did what he would. He was thinkin' of Johnny and Woody Takin' no shortcuts, sometimes wearin' a hoodie. Only a man here has anything to prove. Now waters' under the bridge; get in a groove. Lotta other stuff too; what's it to you? Didn't kowtow to the honchos, just passin' through. People are mistaken and times have changed, A man on his own with his mind rearranged. He's trekked eighty years on a crooked road. The Bible is right: the world blows its load. Trying to get as far from self I can, yet still walkin' now', still born again. This world just sinks deeper in debt Another year older and how far will it get? The world's gettin' too hot to handle dark in clusterfud mud with no candle. You'll die from a born-again life torn away from the grief and the strife. We know fallin' in love's a young man's game; It's too late to find a woman you can tame. Put dreams in a barrow; wheel 'em to the end of the road. People are mistaken, that's why world is a'shakin'. We all hurt easy; the men don't show it. We all been hurt more that we know it. The next sixty days could bring judgements infernal. But we can lay low; we have salvation eternal. All the clutter of this casino gonna burn in inferno. You're chosen, br'er Bob in the bride of Christ You ain't goin' down in no worldly heist. The beast and the harlot will get tossed in the lake. You won't make that mistake! You're a born again man won't make world's mistake again. And I told him dat! King of Soul

As Memories Go Bye

Back in the day, Paul and Art sang a song. . . Old friends, sit on their park bench like bookends. Bookends? What's that? I seem to remember it's a couple of blocks made of wood or ceramic that hold books on a shelf. Books? What are they? Books are those old paperish volumes that people used to read before the internet. An old songish memory from the bookends song blows now across my memory. . . "a newspaper blown through the grass, falls on the round toes. . . of the old shoes, of the old friends." Friends? what are those? They are. . . Mike, and Barbara and Patti. . . Stephen, who used to get me in trouble, back in the day. . . when I was accused of writing the "F" word on the school boys' restroom wall. . . that "f" word now being the profanity of choice, instead of "damn", among 21st-century speakers of the English language. English? What's that? Oh, that's the language that was born when the Angles, Saxons and Jutes crossed the North Sea to Britain. . . "Britain? What's that? That's the island where Chaucer wrote the Canterbury Tales. . . where Shakespeare shook the world with his profound dramas and his frivolous comedies. Comedies? What are they? They are moments of joy and laughter in between the dramas of life on this earth. Earth? What's that? Earth is that round ball that we live on. . . the one that our astronauts pictured in a pic that they shot back in space. It's the round ball in space where you've spent this episode of eternity. Eternity? What's that? That's the Time frame that I'm bound for after my body ceases its pulsating life.

Life? What's that? That's what the Lord created for us back in the day. . . It's the beating of your heart, my heart. . that will cease, but will be renewed by the YWHW who created everything, and who sent his son to die on a cross and be resurrected so that we would know we can live forever, if you and I will only have Faith in Him, Jesus.

Faith? What's that? That's the gift you will discover if you read the greatest story ever told, and simply believe it.

I mean. . . is there a better story that can be told? King of Soul

The Royal Demise

In historic time, we find long lines of royal persons who ruled over tribes, dynasties, empires, kingdoms. We find pharohs, emperors, kings, queens, tsars, all manner of royal titles attached the names of royal leaders. Monarchies were pretty much the rule in ancient times, historic time, right up to modern times when things began to change in an accelerated turning of history's wheels. While watching YouTube recently, I came across a picture of a host of European royals who were related in some way - either directly or by marriage - to Queen Victoria of Great Britain, whose reign ended with her life in 1901.

For the golden age of royal kings and queens, the beginning of the end came with the 20th-century. Royal authority was largely blasted into either impotence or irrelevance by World War I and the events that followed. The toppling of those chess pieces began when a shot was fired in 1914. . . a shot in Sarajevo, Bosnia, a city that was being ruled by the Austrian monarchy. But the Austrian empire diminished when a Serbian nationalist took the life of Franz Ferdinand, archduke of Austria, who had been heir to the the throne of Austria. 

After that, all hell broke loose. . . World War I, when the royals of Austria and Germany began attacking France and Belgium. Russian Tsar Nicholas took sides with the Allies, France, Britain et al. The European nations began attacking each other for royal reasons that would be revealed as largely irrelevant after the cannons had ceased firing and a peace was declared on November 11, 1918. Kaiser Wilhelm (a German title for king) lapsed into irrelevance after the Armistice; adolf hitler and his gang of nazi thugs later tried to pull their so-called Third Reich out of the German ashes, but that ended, as it should have, in a cloud of German defeat. Long story short. . . Royals faded into the background. Their royal duties were eclipsed as Parliament and Prime Ministers, more and more, took the reigns of governance. The best example of this diminution is the British monarchy, who could read the modern writing on the wall. The Windsors have had the royal wisdom and sensitivity to fade into the background, thus allowing Parliament to govern, and the Prime Minister to function as Britain's primary spokesman.

In 1937, KIng George VI was crowned at Westminster Abbey. When George VI died, he was succeeded by Queen Elizabeth, then King Charles. Recently, I saw news indications that King Charles is granting more authority, something called investiture (which I do not understand because I am a yank) to his son, his (presumed) heir, William, Prince of Wales. God save the King! and furthermore, may the Lord of Hosts guide the nations of Britain, Europe, our United States of America, and any other nations who are willing to do as we Americans do: In God We Trust! Smoke

MAGA Revised

Make America Good Again!

The Creator of the Universe who set earth in orbit around the sun, who set the moon in orbit around the earth. . . The Creator who changes deep darkness into morning, who darkens day into night. . . who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out on the surface of the earth. The Lord is His name. It is He who flashes forth with destruction upon the strong, so that destruction comes upon their fortress. The power-mongers and wealth-cultivators hate those who reprove their depraved authority, corrupt governance which they absconded from the party of Lincoln, Eisenhower and Reagan. They hate those who reprove the proud man in the media, and they abhor him who speaks with integrity. Therefore because you impose heavy demands on the poor by withdrawing their benefits and appropriating resources to the privileged mavens who are already fat and happy, you are due for the judgement of the Lord! You who distress the righteous the righteous and accept bribes, and turn aside the poor in the dispersion, repent! Sad but true. . .at such a time as this, the prudent person keeps silent. Br'er rabbit he lay low, while br'er fox was trying to steal the vines. Seek good and not evil, that everyone might live. Hate graft and degeneracy of public grace. Hate evil; love what is good. Establish Justice in the governance of the people! Let Justice roll down like a waterfall, and righteousness as a mighty stream!

Blessed are the poor in spirit; Blessed are the gentle people, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for what is right, for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are those who are pure in their intentions, for they shall see God. Blessed are peacemakers, for they shall be called sons and daughters of God. Every person who is angry with his fellow-citizens is guilty of offense; whoever calls others "good for nothing" is guilty of offense. And whoever calls somebody else a fool can go to hell. Those people who are blessed by the Lord of the Universe are those who give food to hungry people, give drink to thirsty people, and who invite strangers and aliens into their domains. Blessed are those people who make provision for those who cannot afford clothes, who care for and visit sick people , who provide housing for poor people.

To the extent that any person does not provide help, shelter, food, and care for fellow-citizens who are in need. . . to the extent that that insensitive, self-serving citizen does show mercy and generosity to the poor and the disabled. . . that self-serving person will be turned away in the final judgement of the Lord of Universe. And lastly, as Amos had told Andy, back in the day: "And I told him that!" But he was not listening cuz he had his maga'ears on, muffled earsthat tuned out the mercy and grace of the Lord who was crucified and then lived to tell about it. And if you believe that, I've got some real estate in heaven that we can share. Wake up and smell the roses, y'all. Mercy and grace is where it's at, not power and wealth. Glass half-Full

Changes Remain Same

Come to find out. . . Paul Simon has added a new verse to his classic song, The Boxer.

Now the years have rolled behind me. They are rocking evenly, and I’m older than I once was and younger than I’ll be; but that’s not unusual. Nor is it strange that with changes upon changes, we are more or less the same. After changes we are more or less the same.

Have a listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lr1iKrTqa2w King of Soul

Let Justice Roll !

From ancient times, the words of the prophet Amos have been rolling through the hearts and minds of men: "Let Justice roll down like the waters and righteousness as a mighty stream." Justice has, indeed, rolled down through our history. . . from Moses to the Romans, through ages and ages of civilization. From 1781 onward, Justice in these United States has been understood and enacted through our Constitution, and through the legislative acts of our Congress, our state Legislatures and our Courts.  All courts, federal and state are administered by Judges.

J. Michael Luttig served on the U.S. Court of Appeals, 45th circuit from 1991 to 2006. Prior to his time on the bench, Luttig was assistant counsel to President Ronald Reagan. He clerked for Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and Chief Justice Warren Burger. I was listening, on YouTube, to Judge Luttig's Frontline conversation with journalist Mike Wiser, recorded in March of this year. The message that I heard clearly spoken from Judge Luttig was this: (paraphrasing) Now is the time for all men and women to come to the aid of their country! We need to get the facts straightened out about the January 6, 2021 assault on our Congress and against our Rule of Law. America is in a Constituional crisis today. Our Rule of Law was not intended by our Founders to look like this: 

Officer Fanone being assaulted on January 6, 2021The immediate issue at hand is trump's attempts to manipulate our Courts for his own purposes instead of our Rule of Law. Congress' Alien Enemies Act were meant for times of war, but we are not in a war. If the Alien Enemies would, indeed, be applied, defendants would have had due process of Law. What we have seen, instead of Justice, is tyranny, imposed by a president who is failing in his Constitutional duties, striving instead to enforce his own will on defendants who are being denied their Constitutional rights. What is being presented by the trump administration is, according to Judge Luttig, "the polar opposite of what Americans fought for in the Revolutionary war", and the polar opposite of what our founders created. The courts, as they are under this tyrannical administration are "not enough. . . this moment calls for the American people" says Judge Luttig, to insist that trump faithfully execute the Laws. But instead, what we have now under trump is "a direct violation of the US Constitution, and also the statutory Law of the United States." Separation of governmental powers into three branches, is "the genius of our Constitution." In this, our inherited Rule of Law, we find the separation of governmental powers into Legislative, Executive, and Judicial branches. Judge Luttig says, "Almost all of trump's executive orders" in these early months of his administration are "encroaching on the other two branches." Our 5th Amendment, which calls for due process of Law, and our 6th Amendment, the Right to Counsel, are both being violated through trump's "nefarious executive orders", by which he attempts to usurp the role of the Federal Judiciary. Tyrant trump calls our Rule of Law "weaponization," a term he has used to enjoin his magamaniac devotees, when in fact, he is the weaponizer; he has weaponized his authority in his Oval office to whack down the constitutional rights of immigrants who are being dragged into courts, denied their rights under the US Constitution, apart from our Rule of Law. It's trump tyranny! according to Judge Luttig.  Bottom line: Justice is not being carried out - it is being squelched by trump's minions - in these United States of America; and Judge Luttig is alarmed. In his message: "the president of the United States of America has declared war on the federal judiciary, an equal and coordinate branch of the federal government, (and) the rule of law and the nation's legal profession." My take on this, after listening to Mike Wiser's interview with Judge Michael Luttig, is that Judge Luttig is appealing to us, the American people to help him, and others who are caught up in these legal battles, to defend and restore the Constitutional authority of our courts of Law. Therefore my understanding on Judge Luttig's call to service is: Now is the time for all men and women to come to the aid of our country! We need to put a stop, by popular demand, to trump's weaponization of the Executive role. My exposition of Judge Luttig's alarm is hereby set forth in this blog, one little blip in the tidal wave of info and opinion that is generated on our internet every day. As Amos, or Andy once said, "And I told him (you, my fellow citizen) that!" So I'm a-tellin' you now. Enjoin Judge Luttig's crusade to arrest trump's attempt to purloin our Rule of Law by replacing it with his tyranny! You can hear the interview here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXi20UZBEM0 Glass half-Full

The American Dream

Send us your huddled masses yearning to be free.

 Free at last, free at Last; thank God almighty we are free at least. But don't stop there. Teach your children well. . . that parents' hell will slowly go by. Make the best with what you've got. Do the best you can. We didn't start the fire, y'all; but we did declare that all men are created equal, and entitled to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Our soldiers have shed blood, sweat and tears. . . even their very lives, in perpetuation of these principles. I mean, we didn't start the fire, but we enkindled the flame of liberty in a venue and a strategy unprecedented in world history. We come on a ship they call Mayflower. We even put a man on the moon, in pursuit of that previously unreachable goal. You may think this is stream of consciousness; it is; we started with row, row your boat gently down the stream. . . but we find, along the way. . . All my trials, Lord, eventually be over; we work together, to get us to a place we never been before, a destiny, a God-ordained destiny that began long ago when Abraham left the land of the Chaldees, and then later. . . as the beat goes on, and the ancient story is told. . . like when Moses told Pharoah, Let my people go; then later much later. . .when the founders broke the cord, ignited it with the flame of freedom, the life-line of liberty. Then as times were a'changing, we built a raiload; once we built a tower way up to the sun. . .it takes Time, y'know, but who knows where the time goes?. . .I mean, the times were always a'changin'. Don't forget: Long story short. . .We come on a ship called Mayflower; we come on a ship that sailed the moon. Ask not what your country can do for you but ask what you can do for your country. But whatever happens, we gotta carry on; love is coming for us all. Young man, take a look at my life; I;m a lot like you. You know I keep thinking 'bout making my way back, whatevah! . . . Just row, row, row your boat gently down the stream; keep it going, never give up and all will go well with you. We are, ever and ever, embarking on the threshold of a dream, almost seen.Every now and then we catch a glimpse of it, as when Dr. King said, back in the day. . . I have a dream. . . then moving right along. . ..Merrily, merrily, verily, gently down the stream. . . stream, stream, stream of consciousness. "I was born by the river, in a little tent. . . and just like the river, I been running, ever since. It's been a long time coming, but I know, change is gonna come." I mean, that's what bro' Sam Cooke had prophecied, back in the day. But going back even further that that . . .Jesus said be ready, for you know not the hour that I come for you, 'cuz The ball is falling on Times Square; the sun is going down every day; but the sun also rises. . .brightening, day by day, the American dream. . . or bust! even so, In God we trust, 'cuz We shall overcome; deep in my heart, I do believe, we shall overcome someday! "How many years did some people exist before they were allowed to be free?" With that precedent in the rear view mirror, and In the wake of Abraham, Martin and John, we must not fail to go on, and on. . . and on, because the Underground Railroad still rides, y'all. Get on board! Don't get stuck in the mud of confusion or the fever of magamania.   King of Soul

Desecration in Washington

. . . a scene from my 2007 novel, Glass half-Full

Marcus stopped, taking in the enormity of it, both physically and philosophically. He was looking at the speech intently. Bridget was looking at him.

Gettysburg Address After a few moments: "Isn't that amazing? "Yes." She could see that he was thinking hard about something. The great chamber echoed a murmur of humankind. "Supreme irony." The longing of a nation's soul reverberated through the memorial… in the soundings of children, the whisperings of passersby. Deep within Marcus' soul, something sacred was stirring, and she could see it coming forth. "The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but can never forget what they did here." He was reading aloud Lincoln's words on the white wall. But for the echoes of a million people who had passed through this place, there was silence. After a moment, Bridget responded. "…and yet, there it is carved on the wall, for all to see: 'the world will little note what we say here….'" "Right, Bridget. Isn't it amazing?"

Suddenly, amid the noise was a loud shouting. Marcus could hear where it was coming from. He moved quickly away, toward the noise, to see what was happening. Bridget felt the sudden coolness of air on her hand, in the absence of Marcus' gentle grip. As soon as he emerged from behind the marble column, Marcus was puzzled by an incongruous, glistening wet flash of red upon the feet of Lincoln's statue. What the hell? Instinctively, he ran over to it. He could still hear a constant shouting; it was a ranting. Then his attention settled on the man who was yelling. He had a bucket in his hand, dripping with red paint. The rant went on, and suddenly Marcus was comprehending it: "…you sonofabitch see if you can get that off and then rub it on your white ass, your sorry white ass that destroyed what this country could have been you're a traitor to your race." This must be a dream, a very bad dream. Marcus was noticing the speaker's bald head, goatee, his moving mouth spouting insult. Then Marcus was deciding to do something. It seemed to him that it was someone else speaking when he asked, loudly, "What the hell do you think you're doing?"  The stranger, startled, turned to Marcus and looked at him. Then he opened his foul mouth: "I'm gonna make things right. There's a lotta things need to be made right. It's gonna start now." A bad dream. Marcus could feel his ire rising. His voice must have quivered with "You better leave now. You've defaced national property. You better find a park ranger and turn yourself in. If you don't, I'll turn you in." Marcus found himself yelling, as his challenge escalated through the marble edifice. The man turned and began to walk down the steps. Impulsively, Marcus thought, and shouted: "Who are you, anyway?" Glass half-Full