Life is Incredibly Easy

Sun and Water and Gehry
Chicago 2007
Photo by Elderta

A friend of mine who is a social worker and who's been helping me cope with the past two years told me the other day that I needed to say some mantras in order to comfort myself when times get tough as well as enforce changes in my pattern of thinking. She's not the first person, nor probably the last, to tell me this. I've had a quasi-easy life, with a bunch of rough patches here and there, but the conditions of the world and the neverending voice in my head that tells me I'm gonna go to hell has taken its toll. Now, the cycle of life is being replaced by the cycle of death (the longer you live, the more people you know will pass away, until it's your turn), and while I'm generally happy, I do get down now and then.

Starting in January 2006, my kitty daughter, Zanzibar, died of an adrenal gland tumor. My dad then passed away in August 2006 of colon cancer. My foster brother, Brandon, died at the age of 20 in March 2007, and then on December 21, my aunt Helen died of a heart attack. On January 2, I found myself no longer working. Happy New Year!

Not having a job at the moment is actually a godsend, truth to tell. I've been so tired and emotionally drained over the past two years, that having a break is not necessarily a bad thing as long as I am able to find a position in the next three to five months. I have an entrepreneurial streak that I inherited from dad that will get me through this, and heck, I have three or four simultaneous careers, so something is bound to pan out. I'm trying to take this time to reassess and care for myself without going crazy that I have no job. (I've added a donate button to my sidebar, just in case anybody out there wants to throw me a buck or two... thanks!) Luckily, my social worker friend gave me some excellent mantras to recite, the most relaxing and comforting of which is: "Life is Incredibly Easy."

Now, as you can probably tell from my blog, I quite understand that life is NOT incredibly easy. Wars, genocide, bad government, etc., happens all the freaking time. To top things of, I'm become addicted to reading Andrew Sullivan (ack!) and a para-military force in Second Life has moved in next door to my tranquil house and they've just built a friggin' firing range in what was once a peaceful sim (eek!). Compared to what others are going through at this very second, I have it pretty damned easy. I just corresponded with an independent journalist (The Vigilant Journalist) who was very recently in the Kibera section of Nairobi, Kenya, where clashes between citizens and the military have taken place. People keep asking her if another Rwanda is about to happen. Not. Easy.

So, I'm well aware that life is NOT incredibly easy, but actually saying the words over and over again is quite comforting. Repeating the phrase helps get me through the day, even when I see documentaries like "Taxi to the Dark Side," which I saw last night with my fellow Billionaire, Yvonne. Thank goodness I immediately was able to go to a potluck party afterward because the documentary is quite devastating as well as on target. I said my mantra about a million times afterward on the subway ride out to Brooklyn. In other words if I compare myself to others, life is damned easy.

I wish everyone an incredibly easy life. Even under impossible circumstances. Well, everyone but Dick Cheney. That dude needs to be impeached yesterday.

There Should Be a Table to Put This On

I keep hearing the phrase, "Impeachment is off the table." I say, whose table is it off of? On my table, you'll find a big heaping pile of double impeachment for the man (Cheney) and his puppet (Bush).

Look, I've been warning people about Bush and Co., since 2004, when I joined Billionaires For Bush. I thought to myself, "hey, self, use humor to help the masses understand what this administration is all about." Bush won. I wept at my computer the day he won the second election. When I say wept, I mean wept. Big honking tears poured down my face in an uncontrollable assault. AT WORK. Eventually, I tried to look on the bright side and tried to continue the humor for the 2006 election, but seriously now, the greater majority of the country is ready to break under the facade of a sneering Chief Executive and the obvious breakdown of a coherent strategy in Iraq.

I truly think the breaking point to a lot of things came on July 2, when Bush, two days before the celebration of the founding of this country, commuted the sentence of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby. To add insult to injury, last Thursday, while opening up the new White House Press Room, Bush nonchalantly brushed off a question regarding the commutation with this:

First of all, the Scooter Libby decision was, I thought, a fair and balanced decision.

Secondly, I haven't spent a lot of time talking about the testimony that people throughout my administration were forced to give as a result of the special prosecutor. I didn't ask them during that time and I haven't asked them since.

I'm aware of the fact that perhaps somebody in the administration did disclose the name of that person. And, you know, I've often thought about what would have happened had that person come forth and said, "I did it." Would we have had this, you know, endless hours of investigation and a lot of money being spent on this matter?

But it has been a tough issue for a lot of people in the White House, and it's run its course, and now we're going to move on.

You may be moving on, Sir, but some of us won't be moving on until you've moved out. Personally, I hope it's before his present term is up.

I have heard people say that we should let the Administration ride on out into the sunset. Well, no. Time and again this President has treated the Constitution like a doormat that's not good enough to wipe his feet on. Consequently, his emboldened assholery has spread to others, who feel as if the Rule of Law is for Thee and Not for Me. This has got to stop. If we let Bush out of office without even so much as a censure, we will have handed the next President a set of Executive Orders and power that the Executive Branch is not entitled to... impeachment must be put back on the table, and soon.

If you don't believe me, then watch and listen to the man who wrote the first article of impeachment against Bill Clinton.

For the love of the Constitution, tell your Representatives, your Senators, your friends, your family, that the honor of the Constitution demands that Bush and Cheney be impeached. It's your country, people. Don't let your leaders lull you into thinking that it's not, don't let your leaders take it away from you either and don't let them make you afraid of your own shadow. Give them one more kit, and they will take the entire kaboodle. Mark my words. Please. I don't want to have to come back in a few years and say, "I told you so."

Oh Woe Is Me

Between Dick Cheney's killing all of the fish in Oregon to today's Supreme Court decision on school integration, all I can think is that we're all doomed. And that's not even taking into account twenty bodies found beheaded along the Tigris River or rumors of rioters being killed in Iran.

Doomed, I tells ya. Doomed.

On top of everything else, kayaking was cancelled tonight due to stormy weather.

Maybe tomorrow will be better.

Who's Been Knocking at Cheney's Door?

CREW would like to find out.

You Can't Make This Shit Up

Vice President of the United States of America shoots man while hunting.

The story broke today, at around 4:30, though the incident happened yesterday, according to BradBlog.

Word to Ya Murtha

Well, the American world (or at least people who pay attention), are paying attention to two things today: Bob Woodward's little "I knew about the Plame thing all along, but lookee me! I'm not gonna tell YOU about it"; and a big fella, happens to be a Pennsylvanian Democrat, a Vietnam war veteran, and a conservative Congressman, John Murtha.

There's word on the street that Dems are finding their balls, particularly as Bush and Cheney go around all Godzilla-like calling Dems undemocratic, dishonest and reprehensible. Man, what fire-breathing monsters Boo and Horrorshow are! Maybe President Bush will bring back a little Gojira from his trip to Japan to remind him how a real radioactive monster does it.

President Bush starring as Godzilla!

So now, John Murtha is coming out, after being an avid supporter of the war, and basically saying, "Whoa! You people in that White House are illin'! I've been to that Iraq, and it's a uncontrolled mess! And don't be talking about going to war when you can't even bother to get your ass fighting during Vietnam, not once, but five times."

"Motherfucker."

Ok, he didn't say 'motherfucker,' but I have one thing to say to you, Representative Murtha ...

... Word.