Those -isms

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.God created the heavens and the earth by his Word. He created men and women and He set within them the ability to speak. And speak, they did. But the homo sapiens were not as wise as their Creator. So when men began to collaborate in their earthly expeditions and constructions, they had trouble seeing eye to eye; they had difficulty in communications and often they would just end up babbling at one another. In the millennia of time since those early days, we’ve made som progress, but we still have some trouble seeing eye to eye; we still have trouble communicating. For instance, along the paths of human development, we see there are sparks of progress, but we also understand there are obviously some disagreements and glitches and issues that separate some groups of people from other groups of people. In the long development of the English language, we have certain phonemes that refer to similarities of meaning. One such phoneme is “-ism”. Consider, for instance, one of the earliest isms, “atheism”, which is the belief that there is a Creator God. Along with the emergence of atheism in human history, there was also the opposite: “theism”, which is the belief that there is a Creator God, and that God (YWHW) has created the world and all creatures and plants within it. . . and that, in the affairs of human history, the beliefs and doctrines that men and women have formed in order to explain their faith in God have taken different paths of belief and explanation and collaboration in the formation of different religions and different explanations about why we are here and what we are supposed to do.

In the 19th century, two new “isms” came to the forefront of human history. The first was Capitalism, which is the free exercise of power in human institutions to accumulate wealth, productivity and profitability. Capitalism was tooling along at a pretty good speed, when a wise guy, Karl Marx, came along and noticed that the benefits and advantages, and of course the profits, that the system had generated were mostly being taken up by the guys who were running the show, and not so much was going to the proletariat folks who were doing all the work. So Marx came up with the idea of Capitalism to explain the lopsided profitability of the Capitalist owner class, as compared to the working class. So the new idea that emerged was Socialism, wherein working folks should have a greater—a more appropriate— share of the profits and the benefits of capitalist industries and business. In the early 20th century, the extremists of socialist leadership moved into a higher theory, Communism, which the Russians utilized after they threw the Tsar out and enforced the dictates of Karl Marx theories of communism. In the 20th-century the communist nations of the world— mostly the Russians— were attempting to enforce a worldwide contention that communism should be the definitive standard for future progress. But that did not work out for them, because people in communist regimes were not going along with the program; so they rebelled and insisted on going back to, at least, some progresseive capitalist game plan. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, in the USA, capitalism was having a great run. Capitalists were king of the hill. . . J. P. Morgan, Henry Ford, Cornelius Vanderbilt, John D. Rockefeller, et al. The nation and the economy was running on pieces-of-eight cylinders. . . until October, 1929, when the all hell broke loose. In the Great Depression that followed, President Franklin D. Roosevelt injected a little bit of socialism into the capitalist juggernaut when he implemented his New Deal program. The New Deal worked well for the purposes that FDR and the Americans intended. In this writer’s lifetime, presidents of the USA have utilized both capitalist and socialist governmental programs to make sure that every American has a chance to at least get on the prosperity ladder, if not climb to the top of it. In our present whirlwind of political extremity, magamaniac fake conservatives vs. democratic moderates. . . the democrats want to enact programs whereby all Americans have at least a decent living, a place to live and a job to do. . . while fat cat “conservatives” produce ads on youtube or whatever ostensibly warning that “socialism” is like some big bad wolf that will eat up our nation’s gullible young people. Those fat cats who are freaking out do not understand the USA is united in our resolve to make the best of both capitalism and socialism, as Roosevelt and LBJ did, with the Great Society. All this brings us to the most practical, the most useful,”ism” of all: Realism! It takes all kinds of people to run a great nation, and all kinds of beliefs, faiths, strategies, tactics and politics to make the United States of America run on all cylinders.

Carey Rowland

The Party of Lincoln

Surf’s up!

As the spirit of US the People was moving over the surface of the electoral waters, a sea change took place; in Congress, blue majority now replaces red authority. In the cities and in the towns, through plains and mountains, up and down. . . good news on the doorstep. America can take a forward step. As in the earlier era, when prophet Bob sent out the message, with a little help from Peter, Paul and Mary, a new wind of fresh leadership brought forth a paradigm shift; the winds of change were strong and they were swift, as they are again, now. “Come senators, congressman, please heed the call; don’t stand in the doorway; don’t block out the hall, ‘cause the times they are a-changing” But be careful, all ye democratic leaders; don’t go power-hungry like the republican oligarch-feeders . Remember that We the People put you there in Congress, and We the People remain the strongest. Remember that the first Republican president was Abe Lincoln, a backwoods lawyer who spoke Emancipation, and Eisenhower had been a general who helped defeat the nazimania nation. The party of Lincoln, Grant, Garfield, Eisenhower and Reagan must not be turned over to a make-believe pagan; the donald may be occupying the oval now, but the Presidency is an office that has proven to be beyond his decency grade. He’s just taking pot shots at Muslims, while the oligarchs are guzzlin’. His classified documents are hidden in a closet, while his fat cat cronies drink from our nation’s faucet. The words of the prophets are written on the peoples’ halls: come senators, congressmen, please heed the call; don’t stand in the doorway; don’t block out the hall. . .cuz the times they are changing, and this nation definitely needs some rearranging. With magamaniac republicans being flushed down the Congressional bowl, this may be the time to wipe the Republican rear guard clean . . . and restore to health and good will the Grand Old Party of Lincoln, Grant, Garfield and Eisenhower. Yeah, I say unto thee, we do need two parties in our United States America. I submit this opinion in the land of the free and the home of the brave, written by this registered Republican who did—truth be told—vote for a straight Democratic ticket. Listen and hear about Moses and Martin Luther King: Carey Rowland

Truth

Is it true that we live in the year 2026? Yes. If you are an American, we are living in the two thousand and twenty-sixth year after the birth of Jesus Christ. Why is our calendar begun at the supposed birthday of one man? Could it be that His birth was an event of such importance because He changed, for all time, the way men and women live and conduct their lives? There was a moment in time, probably in the year 33 A.D. when Jesus was hauled before a Roman emperor to be judged for causing a disturbance among the people in the Roman province of Judea. The encounter went something like this: “Your own nation and the chief priests delivered you to me; what have you done?” Jesus answered: “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to my accusers; but as it is, my kingdom is not of this of this realm.” Pilate said: “So. . . you are a king?” Jesus replied: “You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truthhears my voice.” Pilate said to Jesus: “What is truth?” Well that’s a good question. Is the sky blue? Well, no, not at night. Do hardwood trees have leaves? Yes, they have leaves, beginning in the spring; but in the fall the leaves fall, and eventually they crumble and deteriorate into the soil; then they provide a basis for other trees to grow and extend roots into earth that is millions of years old. It’s a little bit like the humans. We live and move and have our being for awhile, maybe 70 years. . . 80, 100, whatever. But then each life expires and goes down into the ground. Is it true that a Christian will arise to eternal life in heaven? So a man comes along and picks up a leaf; he finds it to be interesting; he takes a He sets it down on the floor in his living room.

Is that a wooden floor?” Well, no, it just looks like one. That floor is a synthetic plastic that is manufactured to look like wood. All that to say, we live in a real world where some things are truly what they appear to be. But there are other things that appear to be something that they are not. Consider the person who was occupying the oval office on January 6, 2021, trying to convince his Christian vice-president to go along with the plan to take over the government of the United States, illegally, by force. Vice President Pence did not go along with the magamaniac plan. He was a Christian whose deepest allegiance had been given to the One who stood before a Roman official and said, “My kingdom is not of this realm.” All that to say: If you call yourself a Christian, will you go with the One who chose the cross, rather than the crown? Will you go with the One who said that His kingdom is not of this world? Will you go with the One who made best use of that crucifixion to demonstrate that life does indeed go on after death? If you believe that, we’ve got some real estate in heaven that we will share. And that’s the Truth. I’m not kidding. To believe in the One who survived death itself is the most important choice you will ever make. And that’s the Truth! I’m not making this up. Travelers’ Rest Yours truly, Carey Rowland

Union

In 1972, I served as chairman of the LSU Student Union Speakers Committee.

I introduced the comedian Dick Gregory to an audience of 1400 people in the theatre. He spoke very convincingly to his listeners, making skilfull use of his humorous world view to explain and justify the plight of black folk to obtain justice and dignity in 20th-century America. Soon thereafter, I was approached by Mike Connelly, president of the local chapter of the Young Americans for freedom. He complained that our guest speakers were too liberal. It was a point well-taken, as we had brought in, not only Dick Gregory, but previously Dr. Spock, author of Baby and Child Care and Paul Goodwin, author of Growing Up Absurd. Conservatives of that mid-20th-century era had complained that the baby boomers, one of whom is this writer, were being spoiled, and that these two authors, Dr. Spock and Paul Goodwin, were largely responsible for our generation's turning out to be so contrary. . . preferring to identify with rock’n’rollers, hippies and protesters against the war in Vietnam. I understood Mike Connelly’s complaint; so I asked him to get William F. Buckley to come and speak to us at LSU.  Mr. Buckley was the founder of the National Review, a magazine that advocated for American conservatism in a way that was intellectually more appropriate and effective than the John Birch Society. William Buckley’s message to us college kids was appropriate and profound. I was glad that we had succeeded in recruiting him. The American deep South of that era was a culture very different from what it is today. We have come a long way in conducting a society that assures freedom and justice for all people.     President Abraham Lincoln’s leadership in the 1860’s was a decisive factor in our great American hope to establish freedom and justice for all. He was the author of the Emancipation Proclamation. His insistence  that we preserve our American freedom and justice for all citizens changed the course of history. As history unfolded, thousands of American soldiers fought to preserve the human rights of all Americans. Many of those soldiers made the ultimate sacrifice of life, demonstrating their last full measure of devotion. The Union of our people here has caused US  to remain, for wherever citizens gather to assure the American name, their is justice and favor for all those who are willing to act according to the all-American game, politics. Politics is better than insurrection. Like the ancient prophet Zechariah, we have two staffs in American politics: Favor and Union. Any citizen who does not find a favorable path to accomplish political goals can at least—it is their duty— cherish and respect the rights and privileges of all the rest of us to have life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. And we can dream, as Paul Simon did. . . “and I dreamed I was flying; high up above. . . my eyes could clearly see the stature of Liberty. . .”

Liberty and Justice for All, the American dream: that’s what the Union of our citizens here has caused America to retain:  one nation, under God, with Liberty and Justice for all. Glass half-Full

The Circle Cycle

Will the cycle be unbroken, by and by, y’all, by and by? Is there a better destiny for our people in the times ahead, by ’n by? I was standing by my window on a November day, when I heard the news reported. . . the Democrats had taken the day

So magamania has been broken, yesterday, y’all, yesterday! Have our better angels prevailed to actually fulfill our audacity of hope? Has the nation gotten tired of watching fools glorify themselves trying to manipulate magamania? . . . as Jefferson was turning over in his grave? Maybe its curtains for the non-believers and men-stealers who been talking in the name of religion. Maybe it’s time the elephant party get back to the golden rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto.

Will the cycle be unbroken, by and by, y’all, by and by? Undertaker, please drive slowly; undertaker please drive slow. That elephant party, you’re a carrying, I hate to see it go. I recalled the days long gone, when Honest Abe ran the show. He sent the soldiers into battle to free the slaves, to stop the desecration on rebelmania row. Yes magamania has been broken, yesterday. We say ‘byebye, bye ’n bye. Ya’all don’t come back now, y’hear? Underground Railroad Rides Again !

At the Lincoln Memorial

(an excerpt from Glass half-Full)

They walked up the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.When they reached the top, Bridget was gazing, like most everyoneelse who ascends here, with rapt interest at the seated statue. But Marcus, holding Bridget’s hand, gently prodded her to keep moving, slowly to the left, through the myriad of ambling visitors. They came to an inner sanctum. Carved on the white marble wall in front of them were the words of the slain President’s Gettysburg address.Marcus stopped, taking in the enormity of it, both physically andphilosophically. He was looking at the speech intently. Bridget was looking at him. 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 seeit 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 thisplace, there was silence. After a moment, Bridget responded. “…and yet, thereit is carved on the wall, for all to see: ‘the world will little note what we sayhere….’” “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 atraitor 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?”

Glass half-Full

North Carolina Home

(Listen to song link below) I found a pair of Murphy-to-Manteo shoes; and I kicked off those Asheville-Statesville blues. . . went from Deep Gap down to Raleigh. . .met a friend I never knowed in Holly Springs. Now I’ve been to Arizona; walked the beach down in Daytona, I was born in Louisiana, took a drive through Alabama; but North North Carolina’s my home. I love the Carolina sunrise, Carolina apple pies, I love my Carolina woman in my Carolina home. I had a thrill up in Chapel Hill; I rode a boat on the coast near Shallotte, climbed a mountain in Swannanoa, pulled a bluefish on the shoah, and ain’t it just like a friend of mine to ease my troubled mind. I’ve seen the weavin’ wavin’ wheatfields out in Kansas; I’ve the fruited plains and the popular purple mountains’ majesty. Bur the place I’m surely going to is the home I’m most into; it’s tarheel blue and Duke blue too and every tall tale’s true. Ilove the Carolina sunset, rolling waves at Bogue inlet, Queen’s Road in old Charlotte, Queen’ s road and all that; yeah; that’s my home.

I worked a diddly-haw upstart saw in Waccamaw; I duffed a goofily gosh-darn golf game in Greensboro, sat on the porch in Siler City; even old women there are pretty. I wouldn’t trade this place for the world; it’s precious as a Pamlico pearl. Here to tell you about Denver, Durham and Dallas, about Kill Devil Hills and Cary and Biltmore palace, about Topsail’s total sunshine, Triplett’s tipplin’ moonshine, about Weddington, Wilmington, Waynesville,Wilson, and cardiac pack-attack Wolfpack too. It’s the midway midpoint t’wixt Manhattan/Miami; it’s s bobcat, cougar, yeah Panther and a bald eagle mammy; it’s the fairest of the fair. Heaven’s interstate exit is there. . . Y’all come see us when you can now! (I’d just as soon be in Boone.)I found a pair of Murphy-to-Manteo shoes; and I kicked off those Asheville-Statesville blues. . . went from Deep Gap down to Raleigh. . .met a friend I never knowed in Holly Springs. Now I’ve been to Arizona; walked the beach down in Daytona, I was born in Louisiana, took a drive through Alabama; but North North Carolina’s my home. I love the Carolina sunrise, Carolina apple pies, I love my Carolina woman in my Carolina home. I had a thrill up in Chapel Hill; I rode a boat on the coast near Shallotte, climbed a mountain in Swannanoa, pulled a bluefish on the shoah, and ain’t it just like a friend of mine to ease my troubled mind. I’ve seen the weavin’ wavin’ wheatfields out in Kansas; I’ve the fruited plains and the popular purple mountains’ majesty. Bur the place I’m surely going to is the home I’m most into; it’s tarheel blue and Duke blue too and every tall tale’s true. Ilove the Carolina sunset, rolling waves at Bogue inlet, Queen’s Road in old Charlotte, Queen’ s road and all that; yeah; that’s my home.

I worked a diddly-haw upstart saw in Waccamaw; I duffed a goofily gosh-darn golf game in Greensboro, sat on the porch in Siler City; even old women there are pretty. I wouldn’t trade this place for the world; it’s precious as a Pamlico pearl. Here to tell you about Denver, Durham and Dallas, about Kill Devil Hills and Cary and Biltmore palace, about Topsail’s total sunshine, Triplett’s tipplin’ moonshine, about Weddington, Wilmington, Waynesville,Wilson, and cardiac pack-attack Wolfpack too. It’s the midway midpoint t’wixt Manhattan/Miami; it’s s bobcat, cougar, yeah Panther and a bald eagle mammy; it’s the fairest of the fair. Heaven’s interstate exit is there. . . Y’all come see us when you can now! (I’d just as soon be in Boone.) Listen: North Carolina Home Glass half-Full

The Sounds of Irrelevance

There’s the cell phone buzz again; it came to jangle me again because some jangly came beeping, and leaves its blip while I am thinking. And the message that was planted in my phone. . . now is gone within the sounds of irrelevance. In literate words I read alone old books, and new ones now long gone Beneath the halo of lamp light I turn the pages, left to right. Then my ears get stabbed by the jingle-jangle toys of unseen voice with political noise a phoney voice with pleas for cash but I assess its all political trash. But in the online light I discern they’re wanting money that I earned in work I did in days gone by. So I ignore it with a sigh. ‘bots with people voices speaking but really it’s Ai blather bleeping while people still sing songs that we should hear as history and relevance still draw near. Fools in politics who do not know money like a cancer grows. . . Hear the words of the real news; citizens trying to snuff out the fuse

of insurrection and maga greed as money men amp up the feed that snuffs out the words of relevance with the noise of irrelevance. And the magas bowed and scraped to the president who raped. Now the signs display a dire warning in the resistance that is forming And the sign said the words of the prophets are written in the Bible books Let Justice roll down like the waters! Public servants must do what they oughter! Let us go by the wisdom in the books not the money of the oligarchal hooks. Money ain’t worth the paper and plastic its printed on. Let’s restore Truth, Mercy and Justice before its gone. There’s a way that gets out of this political money mess. It’s the underground railroad that rolls us out of stress. Glass half-Full

The Big Bad Nukes

When I was a child I spoke as a child, but now that I’m 75, I’m speaking my mind. Having entered into this world in 1951, I was one of the millions of baby boomers born to American parents after the big war, World War II, which was humongous compared to the little war that we launched in Vietnam after the French had failed to run the communists out of Vietnam, and then we also failed. But you can’t win ‘em all. Back in that day, we Americans were quite comfortable in our houses, with our new cars and our TV sets, watching Captain Kangaroo and Disney, Leave it to Beaver and Ozzie and Harriet. We probably had it better than any prior generation in the history of the world, except for one thing: the threat of nuclear war hanging over our heads. A mere six years before I was born, our American bombers had dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan.

It was the most destructive act in the history of warfare, inflicted on the people of Japan because their stubborn emperor refused to end the war that the Axis powers were losing anyway. And although the atomic bombing of Japan was a tragedy of worldwide proportion, it was a blessing in disguise, because, after that terrible destruction, there has been no emperor or king or president or premier foolish enough to inflict such terrible destruction and death on the people of this planet. But there was a moment in time, in1962, when we came close. In their paranoia, the Russian communists had shipped a bunch of nukes to their puppet dictator Castro, in Cuba. President Kennedy called Premier Khrushev on the red line and convinced him to turn those nukes around and put ‘em back where they came from. That was a close call! but we got through it, thanks to President Kennedy’s foresight and leadership. Meanwhile, back at the world ranch, as the icy paranoia of the cold war warmed up, nuclear power generation was being generated in several countries around the world; and that was working out well until 1986, when the Chernobyl plant almost melted down in Ukraine. After that, all was quiet on the world nuclear front until 2011, when the power plant in Fukushima, Japan almost released a dangerous level of radioactive contaminants. In 1983, in the midst of what was first thought to be an American nuke attack on Russia, a Soviet lieutenant colonel, Stanislav Petrov, might have saved the world from nuclear destruction! The Soviet early warning satellite system had erroneously detected what the electronics presented as an American nuke attack on Russia! But Lieutenant Petrov saw signs indicating that the alarm was due to a computer glitch, or something like that. His corrective retort to the officer in charge probably prevented a nuclear disaster of global proportions! All that to say. . . we have had, and still do have, a sword of Domoclesian destruction hanging over our world-citizen heads. We need to be careful. God forbid a Dr. Strangelove debacle, with Slim Pickens riding down on a buckaroo bomb toward the first strike zone of an atomic war!

Let us hope and pray that Vladimir Putin never makes such an irresponsible move in his desperate attempt to conquer the Ukraninians. Let us hope and pray that donald trump does not fire nukes on Iran because he thinks they want to fire bombs on Israel. There is a place for a paranoia in this life, like, as David Crosby had said, “looking out my rear view mirror and seeing”. . . a nuclear blast. . . or something like that. But prayer, directed toward the Lord Creator of the Universe, is a more appropriate assurance of protection, along with reasonably peaceful logistics, negotiations between the head honchoes of this world. And. . . as Amos used to say to Andy:”I told him that.” Glass half-Full

Declaration of Impeachment

When in the course of American events it becomes necessary for the people to dissolve the executive bonds which have connected them with a president, and to assume among the powers of our citizenry, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of our Constitution and our Role of Law entitle US, a decent respect for the opinions of mankind requires that we should declare the offenses that compel US to the Impeachment. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all Americans are born equal, that they are endowed by our Constitution with certain unalianable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the exercise of our rights and freedoms without harassment by soldiers. And so, to secure these rights, government is instituted within several branches, legislative, executive and judicial, state and local, deriving their respective powers from the consent of the governed. . . and that whenever any president becomes destructive of our rights, it is the Right of the People to reject and impeach hIm, and to install new leadership, laying a new foundation on Constitutional principles that shall seem most likely to restore the safety and legality and Rule of Law of the American people. Prudence, indeed, will indicate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes. Accordingly, all experience has shown that Americans are tolerant of abuse to a certain extent. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object of purloining unauthorized power, constituting thereby blatant abuse of Executive privilege, it is the right of the American people; indeed it is their duty!. . . to throw off such abusive, magamaniacal authority, and to lawfully provide new leadership for the peace and safety and future security of the American people. Such has been the patient sufferance of US, the citizens of the United States, and such is now the necessity which constrains US to remove the lawless occupant of our Executive office. The history of the present Oval occupant is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in his direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these United States, and subsequent enrichment of privileged oligarchs at the expense of the American people. To prove the legitimacy of this call for impeachment, let facts be submitted to a candid world. ! He recruited a host of violent rebels to attack our Representatives and Senators at the US Capitol, January 6, 2021. He launched the violent rebellion as an attempt to disrupt and to overthrow the lawful assembly of the US House of Representatives, after a gavel-call to order in which they were assembled to count Constitutionally obtained Electoral votes. These offensive acts expose an illegal and violent attempt to steal a national election. !! He illegally ordered soldiers to attack US citizens who were legally assembled to collectively exercize their Constitutional rights of freedom of speech and freedom of assembly, on multiple occasions. !!! He allied himself with a Russian tyrant to conspire against the people of Ukraine, after he had conspired with Russian agents to discredit the integrity of his opponent in the election of 2016.

!!!! He usurped Congressional duties by presumptuously imposing tariffs on foreign imports, thereby imposing economic hardship on the American people. !!!!! Without due process, he deprived immigrants of their human rights and constitutional rights by illegally ordering violent and lethal attacks on them. !!!!!! Having no Congressional mandate, he illegally launched a war against a foreign nation, murdering innocent children and citizens in the Republic of Iran. !!!!!!! He illegally retained classified documents in his MaraLago residence after he had lost the election of 2020. !!!!!!!! He spoke irresponsibly, inappropriately and presumptuously in claiming maga ownership of Greenland, Lake Ontario and the Gulf of Mexico. . . thereby exposing to the world his naked covetousness and stupidity in matters of international protocols and Law.

One if by land; two if by what We the People see. . . and act upon! People get ready; there’s a slow train coming. . . Glass half-Full

Sunshine

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”. . . and there was light.

Sunshine is good. That light that doused the earth with energy became the primary driver of life, as life itself was nestled among the rocks, sands and soils of earth. Every creature and plant depended upon sunshine for life. As millennia of time wrapped energy and elements around all creatures great and small, light energy was stored in organic matter, plants and animals that had once been alive, throbbing or pulsing with sap or lifeblood. It was an ancient earthly legacy of life development, growing, evolving, all creatures great and small. Every creature or plant that ever lived ends up in the ground, where their remains are recycled into the earth. This is true of us humans as well. We humans have special status, insofar as our Creator has put within us a mental and spiritual capacity for being aware of the YWHW creative process whereby we live and breathe and have our being. We were given a limited capacity for comprehending all creation and participating in the management of it. In the 19th-century, humans began to figure out how to make use of nature’s stored energy. We discovered that the remains of organic life contained stored energy. The ultimate original source of all earth energy is our sun. Sunshine is our most precious resource. Sunshine enables us to see in the daytime, and use the solar-originated earthen stored energy in . . . wood, fuel oil, coal, kerosene and electricity generated from all those solar-originated energy sources, to warm our buildings and fuel our cars, trucks, factories, computers, phones. . . Since the 1970’s, sky-oriented solar collectors have enabled us to make immediate use of the massive energy that comes through our atmosphere every day. Sunshine is our most precious resource on this earth. But we also need sunshine in government and public affairs. Our most precious resource in governance is moral integrity, honesty, and a willingness to conduct all public and governmental affairs in the sunshine of truth and Rule of Law. All public servants, politicians, congress representatives, senators and presidents must operate in the light of public awareness and truthfulness. “He who rules over men righteously, who rules in the fear of God, is as the light of the morning when the sun rises.” (King David’s last song, (2 Samuel 23:4)

We can see sunshine every day. We can even hear Sunshine! Carey Rowland

Rearranging Roses

I heard it in the wind last night; Now I see it in the autumn bright falling leaves in glorious applause as summer takes a three-month pause The glories drifting down and all around in golden flight with rustling sound

It seems like many dim years ago we moved into this forest space; every breeze brings down a whispering trace of what has grown and died this year. The trees shed their heritage with a leafy tear. I catch these glimpses of forest flutter that whirl and twirl down to our gutter. In our home this writer resides to witness glory as the forest glides. There was a time when this father was a singer in past a musician, but now a bringer of life and love to to the woman, the son and daughters, a marriage of heaven and earth, doing what we oughter I remember the days when I used to sit and sing songs in guitar modal grit. Yet now we prosper ‘cause we’re grateful as the leaves float down so graceful here in our homestead planted in the woods where the trees spread their leafy hoods Life has brought us so much joy and love as years fly by like the fluttering flying dove. Now I live up here, the old guy; the world shines bright as all that grows on Appalachian wooded heights. We received the call to worship the Son of Man, the Lord who survived the hammers, the nails and wounding of the sword. I hear the trees in the rustling fall, in glorious applause as Creation celebrates the seasons with a colorful pause. Chilly now, end of summer, no more shiny hot nights It was just the arbutus rustling

and the waltzing of the trees as they wave goodbye to summer in the Way, the Truth and autumn Light. Listen: Carey Rowland

The Supremacy Illusion

History is full of human mistakes. Much of the trouble surrounding the peace and safety of people can be traced to some person or group who thought they were better than everyone else, or holier than thou, or puffed up with pride because of toting a better way to do this, that, or the other, whether it’s leading a nation, or a movement within a nation. This writer, born in 1951, studies books and media to look back into the annals of history to survey the how’s and the why’s of 20th-century hatred, violence, murder, and even maga-scale holocaust. I notice that, a few decades before I was born, a demonic nazi took hold of the German state, turned it into a wehrmacht war machine so he could send his legion of maga-murderers to kill anybody who was not on his side; hitler twisted the historical precedent of Indo-Aryan hegemony to convince the German gentiles that they were better— high and mightier—than all the other Europeans, especially those Jews, whose legacy included a divine revelation that there were divine laws, promulgated by the Creator of the Universe, and that those divine laws include a commandment: THOU SHALT NOT KILL!

The little Austrian corporal dragged the Europeans into a continent-wide war in which millions of people were killed. Along the way, he appointed his most bloody-thirsty officers to launch a holocaust against the people who followed the Law that the Creator YWHW had sent down, many, many centuries ago. A few years after that world war had subsided into the tombs of history, I was born in the deep south of the USA. I was a child in Jackson, Mississippi, when Medgar Evers was shot dead in his own front yard. It wasn’t long after that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis. Martin had spoken to a gathering of his people on the night before his death, He had told his people, gathered in a Christian church, that he had “seen the promised land.” But he also said, “I may not get there with you.” As a faithful leader of an oppressed people, Martin was re-living the experience of Moses, a brave spiritual leader of long ago. As Moses had lead his people, the Hebrews, out of slavery in Egypt, Dr. King was leading his people out of racial oppression and discrimination in the deep south.

Now, in 2026, at age 75, I am amazed at how far we have come in our American declaration that all men are created equal, endowed by out Creator with Life, Liberty and the the pursuit of happiness. The amazing grace of these progressive changes convinces me that the supremecy illusion is no way to run a nation or a world. We had best take the advice of the Jew who said we ought to do unto others as we would have them do unto us. Then he fortified his legacy of golden rule authority by rising from the dead, on the third day after his crucifixion. And if you believe that, I’ve got some real estate in heaven that we’ll share when your life and mine is all said and done. Mountaintop Carey Rowland

Making Love

an excerpt from chapter 18 of Glass Chimera, a microscopic venture into the land of Utruss:

Deep in the womb of Salli Cretani something unique was about to happen. Intimate collaboration with her husband was culminating in a great event of Creative proportions. All around them, the excitement was building up. They could just feel it coming. God had set a great, creative urge deep within them, which would produce a unique work that only they could perform. On this appointed night, the holy place had been prepared, and was ready to receive visitation from the Chosen One. Salli’s husband, Kemal, anticipated the upcoming event with great joy. . . Down in the depths of Kemal, the prophet lifted high his staff and waved it broadly toward the vast swift-flowing River Deferens, upon which their rising momentum now began to surge with fervent purpose and ecstasy. The prophet surveyed that entire scene as the mighty horde passed before him into eternity. He watched them all dive with jubilant abandon into the vast River, and he kept his steadfast eye upon their departure until all had disappeared round the bend of the River—all except one. He gazed upon that One with a joy that accompanies only those rare events in which true Life is being wrought from raw potential. The One who stayed behind approached the prophet humbly. And when he had come within an arm’s length, he kneeled there beneath the prophet’s expectant gaze. “I have expected you,” said the prophet. “What is your name, boy?” “Lance, sir.” “From this time forth you shall be called: Sir Lance.” “Thank you, sir.” “Tell me why you have lingered here, while the others have gone before you to perform their duty.” “I want to obtain your blessing, sir.” “Then you shall have it.” “Thank you, sir.” “And so, Lance, since it is incumbent upon you to overtake your comrades in this expedition and thus fulfill your sacred destiny, I do anoint you, on behalf of our Creator, to go forth in the knowledge and confidence of your holy purpose, and thereby to accomplish its fulfillment in the land of Utruss. Arise, Sir Lance, and go. Do what you have been called to do.” “Thank you, Sir.” Now Lance stood erect, knowing that he had received the precious commission for which he had lingered. Without hesitation, the anointed servant turned upon his heel and left the holy mountain. Alone, he dived into the vast River Deferens to make the long journey to Paradise. The prophet watched until the chosen One disappeared around the bend of the River. “May the Lord go with you, boy,” he whispered. Kemal and Salli sighed with their sweet love’s satisfaction. Read the book, Glass Chimera: https://www.amazon.com/Glass-Chimera-L-Carey-Rowland/dp/1452897565 Carey Rowland

War

Words of an old Frenchman, 1937: “War is a terrible thing, an ugly thing. I did not fight in the war; I had already served my military duty, long before the Archduke was assassinated in Sarajevo and the whole damn world flew apart, like shrapnel. But I had many friends who fought here, and back there, where we just came from in my France, back there at the Somme,the Marne, Amiens. Our soldiers drove the Germans back across their fortified lines, the Hindenberg line they called it. By summer of 1918 the Germans were in full retreat, although it took them a hell of a long time, and rivers of spilt blood, to admit it. And so it all ended here. Those trenches, over there in France, that had been held and occupied for two hellish yearsby both armies, those muddy hellholes were finally left behind, vacated, and afterward . . . filled up again with the soil of France and Flanders and Belgium, and green grass was planted where warfare had formerly blasted its way out of the dark human soul and the dark humus of lowland dirt and now we see that grass, trimmed, manicured and growing so tidily around those rows of white crosses out there, most of them with some soldier’s name carved on them, many just unknown, anonymous, and how could this have happened? You might as well ask how could. . . a grain of sand get stuck in an oyster? And how could that oyster, in retaliation against that rough,alien irritant, then generate a pearl—such a beautiful thing, lustrous and white—coming forth in response to a small, alien presence that had taken up unwelcomed residence inside the creature’s own domain?

The answer, my friend, is floating in the sea, blowing in the wind, growing green and strong from soil that once ran red with men’s blood.” The excerpt above is from chapter 27 of novel “Smoke”. https://www.amazon.com/Smoke-L-Carey-Rowland/dp/1495330834 Carey Rowland

The Long Climb

After 75 years on this earth, this writer reflects on a few of the LPs that have been spun upon the turntables of Time, going way, way back. . . “In days of old, Jacob came to a certain place and spent the night there, because the sun had set. . . He had a dream, and behold a ladder was set on the earth with its top reaching to heaven; and behold, the angels were ascending and descending on it.”

Later, much later. . . there was a man sitting under a tree, who asked Jesus, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered and said: “before you were sitting under the fig tree, I saw you.” And then later, much later, in a different place and time. . . before you were searching for purpose in Texas. . . before you were driving through Colorado. . . before you were hanging out in California. . . before you were publishing in in North Carolina. . . before you were promoting the Kingdom in Utah, or Philadelphia, or Germany, or London. . . “I saw you.”

before you were hanging out in Minnesota, or the Cafe’ Wha, or the Bitter End. . .

before you were sitting on the beach in Florida. . . before you were listening to the radio in Louisiana, before you had a busted flat tire in Baton Rouge. . . I saw you! “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see the heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on it.”

Listen: Follow the Way Traveler’s Rest Glass half-Full

A Day in the Strife

I heard the news about Old Glory
Fifty stars dragged down into the mire
A crowd of rebels in our Capitol
They cast our Congress to oblivion

They blew their mind out in a riot
They wouldn’t notice that the nation changed.
A crowd of people watched online.
They’d seen that dread spirit long before, in 1864. Our nation’s splitting soul was up for grabs.
The joker brandishing his tyranny
Casting spells of spoken alchemy
Tossing tales of woken enmity.

He’d spouted words stand back stand by
They stormed the Dome with rebel cry.
They trashed and gashed the hallowed hall
They wouldn’t read the writing on the wall He blew their minds out with a lie
They raised the zombie rebel cry
A freaked-out nation sat and stared
They’d seen that face before, back in 1864.
They’d heard that rant before.
Nobody was really sure what the hell was happening.
His spell was marching on. Listen: Glass half-Full

The Patriot's Burden

They took up the MAGAmaniac’s burden, sending the proud boys’ breed. to send their oath bleepers to the Capitol, to serve their master’s need, to disrupt in forceful entry the Loser’s three percent of anarchy; but they failed to maintain or establish a MAGAmaniac monarchy

So we sing our star-spangled update: Oh say can you see, in the 2026 light What we so proudly maintained after a 2021 fight? That broad dome and wide steps through the perilous fight O’er the barricades we watched was so gallantly retained! As our Congress did dare, with teargas in the air, giving proof through the fight that our Congress was still there; O say does that Capitol Congress remain with our Presidency, o’er the land of the free? Yeah, I say unto thee. Democracy!

But that’s not the first time an old whitey-hair failed to get his way. There was a precedent long ago, on a fateful Little Big Horn day. They took up the MAGAmaniac’s burden, sending the proud boys’ breed. to send their oath bleepers to the Capitol, to serve their master’s need, to disrupt in forceful entry the Loser’s three percent of anarchy; but they failed to maintain or establish a MAGAmaniac monarchy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u71LxQ4YDb0

Rerouting History

According to Gordon Lightfoot, northern waters flow from Lake Superior, southeastward to Lake Huron, then down to Lake Erie, then Lake Ontario, and into the St. Lawrence River and ultimately the Atlantic Ocean. In the middle between Superior and Huron is Lake Michigan. The cities of Milwaukee and Chicago were built and developed on the southwest shore of Lake Michigan. Chicago developed along the Chicago River, which drained water from the Illinois countryside, eastward into the Lake. This was a flowing arrangement that had been developing naturally for thousands of years. When the southern half of North America was being developed by the people and the institutions of the United States, the city of Chicago arose as a sort-of midpoint between New York and San Fransisco. During our 19th-century expansion, when “Go west, young man” was the motivation for adventurous and enterprising explorers, Chicago emerged out of the muddy swamps of lower Lake Michigan. Adventurous Americans who traveled from New York, Cleveland, or other eastern origins could go by wagons or rails of boats. The boat travelers would have to get off the boat near Toledo and travel by land to go further west. After a while, they would reach the south end of Lake Michigan. Maybe they were tired of traveling, and they were encountering troublesome swamps. There were friendly Indians in the Chicago area, and they were probably tired of traveling. . . settlers began to accumulate in a favorable location on the southeast shore of Lake Michigan. There was a river that flowed into Lake Michigan, which was named after the natives; it came to be called the Chicago River. The city hub developing there grew exponentially as the railroads were established from the east. The frontier city of Chicago grew to be the major hub of continental development and transport in the middle of our United States. Back in those days, people had not yet figured out the principles and practices of modern sewer and trash collection. As more and more people settled in Chicago, the Chicago River was polluted. The river degenerated from a fresh source to public sewer. So their sewerage was flowing into Lake Michigan, which was their source for drinking water. Between 1887 and 1890, the citizens decided to solve the problem by reversing the flow of the Chicago River. They dug canals and built locks to drain the Chicago River westward into the Mississippi River watershed, insuring that their waste would no longer be cast into Lake Michigan, their source for drinking water. That was one small step in the great American project to build a great nation from east coast to west coast, from the Great Lakes to the Gulf, and from the pioneer world to the great American progress project of building a great nation. As time ticked on by, we the people would figure out how to actually cleanse our water by removing the sewage waste. This is what is known as progress and we should never forget it. We humans have come a long since the Genesis, when Creator YWHW was moving over the surface of the waters. When the Creator placed people on the earth, He provided our brains so that we could figure out ways to solve our problems. The people of Chicago served our nation by proving that we could change the course of rivers, change the course of history, and make progressive improvements wherever necessary. Let us go forth, through the noise and waste. . . to preserve and improve our great American nation that has proven to be an example of human ingenuity and good will. A decade later , an Illinois President manifested the destiny of all American citizens by assuring that no man nor woman would be enslaved.

After the crash of 1929, President Roosevelt initiated a new deal, whereby Americans would work together to improve our infrastructure. . . our parks, our waterways, our culture and our way of life for the benefit of ourselves, our children, our neighbors and our heirs.

Let us go forth in the noise and haste, clearing the confusion, cleaning the waste, and clearing a flow path toward wealth and health for all Americans, laying down the tracks of progress, just as the people of Chicago did after they reversed the flow of the waters so that progressive improvements could designed, built and utilized by Americans from coast to coast and around the world. Glass half-Full

Chicago

Great center of the American world, manufacturer, maker of rail lines and skyscrapers, metropolis of business and busyness, city of bustling pedestrians. They say you’ve had dark days, days of gangsters and lawbreakers, and I understand that, as the center city of our great American expansion. . . law and order, mail order, Sears, Montgomery Ward and Marshall Fields. 19th century, 20th century, 21st century. . . in the middle of the country. A traveler would have to rail or to fly eastward to Hudson, or westward to the Pacific, to find a city with lifted head singing so proud to be alive and and tough and strong and cunning, flinging media amid the enterprises of piling job upon jobs. . . a tall bold skyscraping skyline, manifesting the burdens of destiny and development, working as a young citizen, touring. . . as this curious American guest.

Down on the south side, where glad, glad Leroy Brown, gladdest man in the whole bustling town, does his thing, laboring to bring strength and prosperity, peace and regularity to a city and a nation balanced upon the center of the continent . . .

sending and receiving the great American destiny from coast to coast, with the most energetic pulse, whether through Louie Armstrong, Muddy Waters or the Chicago Symphony. . . a brassy, bold, wondrously urban declaration of prosperity and progress, from Grant Park to Lake Michigan, through the reversed Chicago River to the Mississippi and the Atlantic and Pacific shores. . . “laughing the stormy, husky brawling laughter of youth. . . proud to be producer, tool maker, butcher, stacker of wheat, with freight-handling railroads,

trains and planes for Americans and world-citizens who come and go, to and fro, while our next generation does grow and grow. Glass half-Full