The Naked Emperor... Top 10 Reasons to RECALL RICK SNYDER

Top Ten Reasons to RECALL RICK SNYDER

Are you getting your ‘Dollar’s’ worth? Here’s ten reason to sign that petition and VOTE…

10. He needs time to develop that ‘Rick In A Box’ idea.

9. FOX has a higher paying job in Beck’s old time slot.

8. We’re just trying to save the Koch brothers some money.

7. Hiring the CFO of Detroit as an EFM is like hiring Lindsey Lohan as a store detective 

6. He needs time to look up the words, 'emergency', 'financial' and 'manager'.

5. Thinks Democracy is just a suggestion and elected officials can be outsourced.

4. He supports Collective bargaining as long as there is no ‘collective’ or any ‘bargaining’.

3. Believes the Constitution is optional and the Bill of Rights more like a buffet.

2. Because he is 'reinventing government' the way Bin Ladin reinvented air travel.

And the number one reason to Recall Rick Snyder…..

1. BECAUSE YOU CAN!

Spin and Marti - RECALLING RICK SNYDER

A child who does not think about what happens around him and is content with living without wondering whether he lives honestly is like a man who lives from a scoundrel's work and is on the road to being a scoundrel.

-Jose Marti   

The poet Jose Marti wrote this in the rumblings of a Revolution. His war of words against Spain echoed the people's discontent and yearning to be free. They eventually got their wish and were freed from Spain but it did not take long before the people realized that the promises of the liberator are the lies of the next dictator. And the next . And the next... Who remembers Soccaro? Baptista? Who remembers that Fidel Castro was democratically elected as Prime Minister and then abolished the government and made himself President for Life?

Here, at home, they are already drafting language to abolish term limits. Here, in Michigan, we have already abolished representative government. We have privatized major governmental operations by fiat. Here, public schools are being gutted so a privileged few can use tax dollars to pay for private, exclusive and segregated education. Many of us weren't fond of Granholm, Engler and on down to Soapy. Remember Soapy? Neither do I. Hardly any of them remember-able and mainly because  none of them dismantled our democracy. None of them sold it to the highest bidder and taxed the poor to turn around and give it to the rich. This isn't bipartisan sour grapes, it is a plea, to you, to stop the flat out fascism of Fidel-like proportions. 



Fidel, after several years of economic distress, political failure and drastic job loss, was voted in by the people; a man who wrapped himself in patriotism and waxed the words of  founding fathers like Marti. Sound familiar. Here at home it is no different. Our new leader said he would 'reinvent government' and, when he said it, he wore the robes of the outsider, the wonk, the nerd. Denim on denim photo ops signaled that he was one of us. Just a guy who wants to make a difference. And he has. He has reinvented government the way Mussolini made the trains run on time...

Corporations get hundreds of billions of dollars from a governor that said we were broke. Hundreds of billions of dollars were cut from education, the environment and our healthcare from a governor who promised they were his priorities. Billions of dollars are being raised by taxing  the poor, the elderly and the workers from a man who said he would be their champion. The fellow who loved democracy forgot to tell us that it doesn't apply to everyone. Certainly not if you are poor and/or black. Suddenly 'Pure Michigan' sounds like a eugenics program and not an inviting tourist slogan. The man who wrapped himself in denim and flags showed up on inauguration day in his CEO suit and it was all over. What a difference a day makes. Voting day, that is...


Who's to blame?

Is Snyder to blame? Hardly. This is a democracy. Or it was until we gave it up. We. Did anyone really believe that his life and example was congruent to his promises? Of course they did. How do you think he won? That's how democracy works. We either voted  for him or against him or not at all. Can we blame rich old white men? Hardly. Even 93% poor minority in Benton Harbor voted 63% in favor of Snyder and that was true Statewide.

Certainly, we can argue that Snyder is ' man who lives from a scoundrel's work and is on the road to being a scoundrel.'  given his relationship to the Kochs and others but it is we who are the children 'who does not think about what happens around him and is content with living without wondering whether he lives honestly.'  We are the scoundrels now... The sad part is we were duped into believing he would share his scoundrels' work... with us. Many did not vote hoping he would win and they would be blameless because Virg was boring, we needed a change, he was more handsome, we like nerds and I'm sure i missed ten thousand 'really good' reasons...


Even after the foxes have revealed themselves for who and what they really represent, we don't collectively care. Our most recent local election here had a whopping 12% of registered voters show up. Perhaps I am preaching to the choir but I don't imagine that even fifty percent of those who read this actually voted. The 2010 elections were won not by the Tea Party but lost by Democrats, Independents and Moderate Republicans who did not vote.  


We are to blame.


Spin v. Marti


When I was young, I watched a show called 'Spin And Marty' (yeah, I'm that old). Every episode, it seemed, would start with the Poor Spin asking the Rich Marty "Whadda ya wanna do?". 


The reply was, "I dunno. Wha do YOU wanna do?" and usually the spoiled rich Marty would lead them into trouble and Spin would have to get them out.  Things haven't changed. We just switched places. Now Marti is the poor one and Spin gets us into trouble.  I am certain we all believe in our hearts and minds the wisdom of Marti but how easy it is to fall for 'the spin'. To stop thinking and wondering is at the heart of what Marti is telling us. Marti wrote poetry because people wouldn't read his rants. Maybe I should rhyme. No time. lime? lame... blame..No more rhymes now, I mean it.  Anybody want a peanut? OK... As you wish...

We need to think. 


Do we think that what happened to Benton Harbor and DPS can't happen to us. It can. Do we think that recalling one Governor will make a difference when there is a whole ticket that must go? Who makes the laws? The legislature? Think tanks like the Mackinac Group, ALEC and other Koch/DeVos sponsored entities? What do you think he is doing 'on the road'? He's not reading Kerouac. He is reading a prepared script and showing up for photo ops. Why. Because he believes us to be stupid and we haven't disappointed.


We need to wonder?

Why does Snyder think it is a good idea to be the Grand Marshall of the Benton Harbor parade? or show up in Detroit to tout education?  or do a book signing on Earth Day in an Ann Arbor Bookstore? or appear as the keynote speaker at a Non-Profit conference? Because most of us will never watch the footage of that tragic parade, that surrealistic booksigning or hear the hip hop of rapper 'Invincible' rapping Truth to Power - 'hip hop to hype' at the conference. We will only see the photo ops, posing and smiling and shaking hands with us so he can appear Loved, Concerned, Green, Compassionate and more... 


Picture = 1,000,000 words and now his denial is plausible. Pretty speeches with canned sound bites already highlighted for the media. "They welcomed me...", "I was there on Earth day...",  "Here I am with the common folk..." And the spin continues. Flat out denials with pretty pictures. Kiss the babies, pet the old folks and smile as the workers beg for jobs. Then shake his hand, look at the camera and 'presto!', problem solved. A poet much better than I (or Marti even) said it like this:

The world is still deceiv'd with ornament,
  In law, what plea so tainted and corrupt,
    But, being season'd with a gracious voice,
      Obscures the show of evil? 


Thanks Bill. Who reads poetry anymore?  We have no time for Marti only Spin. Sound-bytes, empty beats, photos-opped and photoshopped, blurbs and tweets... Sorry. I know. I lost you at 'We are to blame'. (Of course, If you aren't, you have my sincere apologies and can simply repost this and everyone will know you aren't to blame). For the rest of you?


You have a chance now to change things. 


RECALL GOVERNOR RICK SNYDER


Regardless of how you voted or didn't in the last election, you have an opportunity to change things. If you're a Conservative, do it for smaller government. If you are a Tea Party adherent, do it because he represents taxation without representation. If you are a Libertarian, do it for democracy. If you are an Independent do it because you believe that your vote should count. If you are a Democrat why do I even have to tell you why? Do something brave. When you see the petitioner at the supermarket don't assume that the 'activists' will take care of it. Be an activist...


SIGN THE PETITION




Then VOTE.  For all of us....

The Buddha who would kill Bin Ladin

The media has been abuzz about the words of HH The Dalai Lama who, in a question about killing Osama Bin Ladin stated, "in the case of Bin Laden, his action was of course destructive and the September 11 events killed thousands of people…so his action must be brought to justice.”

The implication in the media has been mulling over the seeming paradox of the famously non-violent priest who even admonishes his own countrymen from attacking the genocidal persecutors of his own rightful homeland. This does seem a bit confusing but not if you understand Tibetan Buddhism in a more historical context. It is also helpful if we stop syncretizing Buddhism as if it were a Western religion replete with a black/white right/wrong western theology. There isn't even a 'The' in their 'Ology'. Just as their 'justice' is not ours. They are not a sin/punishment religion, they are a consequences/responsibility philosophy.

Buddhism is a philosophy that looks at ethical choices in terms of Karmic actions and Dharmic actions. Kharmic actions are those of humans and have consequences desirable and undesirable. No good or evil judgments here. Dharma is the desired state where all is in harmony with the desires of the universe (at least in a nutshell) and the desired human potential. The workings of Man can be termed Evolutionary and summed up as 'Just Try'. The Universe; "Just Is'. Justice. There is a constant striving for the search (karma) for compassion and justice (dharma). One is not better either. 

If we look at what His Holiness is saying in this light many things emerge. He is not prescribing, he is describing. He is saying, 'when you do this, that happens'. Justice. He also says that he understands. What he does not say is that he would not ever do the same thing. That wouldn't fit in with Buddhist Philosophy. 


So would he ever prescribe violence? The gotcha type media of the Wall Street Journal would have you believe he was ambiguous and hypocritical or situationally politic. The left leaning press would have you believe he was equally ambiguous but still non-violent. Neither is being truthful.

In the Dharmnapada it is written that the Buddha himself tells us, "'He abused me, he struck me, he overcame me, he robbed me' — in those who harbour such thoughts hatred will never cease." But the Dalai Lama tells us in that same speech that 'forgiveness does not mean forgetting.'  So what does he mean?

"He abused me, he struck me, he overcame me, he robbed me..." Certainly there is a progression here and extended to its worst degree we might find the actions of Bin Ladin.  The Dalai Lama said that the killer of thousands must be brought to justice. His philosophy also prescribes who must mete out this justice. So why doesn't he attack China? Surely they have killed more than a few thousand... 

Tibetans have long practiced Boabom, their unique martial art. It too is a progression that steps from meditation, to movement, to dance, to physical art, to martial art, to weapons. Each person in the culture learns the moves one at a time and steps up the purpose of the basic movement. These various aspects of the practice equate to the steps of querant, novitiate, student, monk, warrior, master. Implicit in this progression is the idea that His Holiness is alluding to. Justice or right action. Right action is appropriate to the place in the progression. Yours and your enemies. A child does not attempt justice because of the consequences or karma that might happen.  A warrior might choose differently and a master like the Dalai Lama would also choose differently; for himself. For him, the master, 'Dialogue is the only way'  Boabom would teach, 'The only way for now...' For Now.

Because underneath the spate of recent Lama Bulls is an unmistakable message to China who is becoming increasingly genocidal to the monks. This most recent speech is part of a series of surprising speeches that speak on the uprisings in  North Africa, the unrest in China, Democracy, the rise of India and now, a not so veiled admonition to Pakistan and China in the guise of a his holiness homily. Like Jesus, the Lama is a very political warrior priest. His words are nuanced, layered and far reaching. While the world is playing International Chess, he is playing GeoPolitical 'GO'...

Compassion for the world might necessitate killing its predators. As countries we also are in an evolution. We (the US) are more warrior than priest and we also have the mastery to carry out justice with relatively little undesirable consequences. Not so for, say, Tibet. It has neither the strength or mastery to overcome its genocidal oppressors. But the Dalai Lama is not excluding the possibility. His alliances with India and the US has the GO playing complexity of a man who reads Sun Tzu. When the progression of Tibet is appropriate to action and China is weak or facing a third army, Tibet will not be meek. Wars and countries have been lost underestimating monks of every sort and, then, the Buddha will kill and we must not be surprised. Or judge... Because Dharma will have been forgotten. We can only hope the Peace Buddha comes before then.

Southern Comfort...

Two Muslim clerics, ironically going to a conference on religious intolerance, were ejected from a plane in Memphis when the pilot claimed that they made some passengers 'uncomfortable'. Delta and TSA representatives both tried to convince the pilot to let them reboard and also interviewed the passengers and could find no passengers who had filed such a complaint.

This is not the first time this has happened (even in Memphis) and not just in the south (Minneapolis) as my cheeky title may suggest. It is, however, the first time that a pilot would use the standard of 'they make me uncomfortable' to have two innocent citizens bodily ejected from the plane. Let me be clear that both men were checked and cleared twice before boarding and again after ejection and the Delta representative begged the Atlantic SouthEast pilot to let them reboard. He refused.

The men were dressed in the robes of an Imam and were wearing the traditional skullcaps and while it might be reasonable for the TSA, Delta or even a pilot to have concerns, once it had been proven that the men posed no threat at all, they should have been allowed back on the flight. This did not happen because one individual created his own standard based upon his own religious intolerance.

He is not alone. The NPR journalist Juan Williams was fired for these remarks, "Williams responded: "Look, Bill, I'm not a bigot. You know the kind of books I've written about the civil rights movement in this country. But when I get on the plane, I got to tell you, if I see people who are in Muslim garb and I think, you know, they are identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried. I get nervous." In the cited second article it was Hindi woman who expressed similar fears. 

Juan Williams is African American and has written eloquently about racism and so it is odd that he would hold such an opinion but listen carefully what he is saying. You can be Muslim but you are not allowed to identify yourself 'first and foremost as Muslims'. He further says, "I get worried. I get nervous." The pilot says the same thing.

It is not illegal to be worried, suspicious and or uncomfortable but we live in a world of laws. Your right to be those things does not extend to any right to take away the rights of others. To me the most egregious thing is that the TSA and Delta did nothing to enforce these innocent men's rights. Delta's apology said they apologize that 'it may have caused anyone inconvenience'. May have? Anyone? Inconvenience?

NPR was right to fire Williams. Southeastern based in Memphis has made no such statement. They should. Already the blogosphere is ripe with apologists and a 'better safe than sorry' meme is being touted. Nothing new. This was wrong. This was illegal and to pay lip service to the law sends a powerful message to the world. It is okay to do anything to people who are different. People who make you 'uncomfortable'. Will the pilot be fired? Probably not. Past investigations have frowned on the employees but protected their 'right' to make judgement calls such as this despite the law.

The events of 9/11 were the acts of 'terrorists'. The recent acts of Navy SEALS were the acts of patriots, liberators and heroes. I cringed, though' as I saw people celebrating  on CNN chanting USA with 'F**k Allah'. I understand and feel relief as well but these are the acts of the terrorized. I can celebrate liberation, heroism and patriotism but hate and violence can only be the results of misplaced and fearful posturing. To take away the rights of the innocents because you are simply 'uncomfortable' and afraid means one thing. The terrorists have won.

“Live your life, do your work, then take your hat” - Thoreau

In the last week, a prince found his bride, a dictator saw his child and grandchildren die, a dead pope became a saint, the president divulged his long form birth certificate and, all the while,our wars rage on, hundreds of tornadoes kill hundreds of people and state after state works to dismantle a hundred or so years of a great and compassionate society. What I will take away from this week? A young girl in a funny hat. What does this say about me? About us? 

Mae West said, “It isn't what I do, but how I do it.  It isn't what I say, but how I say it, and how I look when I do it and say it”. I don’t really think that she meant that we should all be shallow. I do think she means that if you don’t capture someone’s attention you won’t have their ear (or heart). Mae managed both. Hopefully, Princess Beatrice will attract someone who sees something besides a toilet seat wrapped with a ribbon.

We live in a time when so many things are scary, confusing, negative or just overwhelming. We can’t stop trying to help or fix or whatever but maybe we need a different way. Maybe all the arguing, debate and discourse has become wallpaper.  Bad wallpaper. The kind that has scenes of dogs killing wild pigs and hunters shooting foxes surrounded by hounds. In the dining room. In flocking. The British (who love this wallpaper) call their hats ‘fascinators’. Maybe we need to Fascinate more. Flock less...

Yesterday night I laughed so hard it hurt. Who was the comic? It was President Obama poking fun at Donald Trump. After weeks of  silence and working hard to be the adult in the room, the president let loose at the Correspondents' Annual dinner. In one monologue he successfully wiped out anyone’s hopes of seeing the Donald as a candidate. Mr. Trump did the rest by showing very publicly how thin skinned he was by scowling the entire time.

After weeks of silence while someone went on every network, cable channel and even AM radio to question his birth, his intelligence, his race and even his religion, the president leveled a single volley and won the war. With humor. When it was Obama's turn in the hot seat  it was Seth Mayer who was the hired gun for the evening. His machine gun delivery, dead panning and snarky boy SNL delivery was great and while he fired away we watched two men in the same room who would be our nation's leader. One laughing at himself; one scowling at the court jester.

Certainly it was the right place and time and certainly the President gave and took equally and skewered himself the most; his ‘Lion King ‘clip as his birth video was hysterically funny and he showed a great capacity for laughter even at his own expense. Ultimately, the well written jab may fascinate us but it is what happens afterwards that makes all the difference. All jokes aside, at the end of the day, he was still the adult in the room.

I will try to be funnier. I will wear a hat…

The secret life of George the bartender and synchronicity

My friend Rodney called me the other day because a 'synchronicity' had happened regarding a mutual friend and he just had to tell me.  That same day I had been standing in the aisle of the local Mediterranean market thinking about the same friend and I had to tell him that, I too, had had an odd experience about that same person. Then he told me that the person we both had an experience about, an old friend of ours, had passed away. Kali nihta, George…

To most of us he was simply 'George the bartender' at the Cottage bar or, to people even older than myself, at 'The Yacht Club'. Many who knew George would be surprised to know that he was a poet. That he was fiercely political and very spiritual. George was very quiet. As a teenager I would come in after working as a dishwasher at a restaurant and we used to share a shot of Ouzo after last call. A Greek tradition. George believed all things began in Greece. Once in a while, he might share a poem, often written on his receipt pad. When Rodney called and told me of his passing, I thought I’d look him up on the web to see what he might have to say.

Life is a continuous battle
with a purpose to achieve and gain.
Each day God's trials are mine to handle
regardless of difficulties and pain.
\Day in, day out, not knowing what's tomorrow
or what my fate will bring me...
But advancing ahead, more time I borrow
hoping God will bestow what I must be.
\Chasing dreams are something to aspire
and I am fervent and hopeful each day
Revitalized with new strength and desire
to always live a worthy way.

Back in 2008 I began writing a novel that I soon abandoned as it seemed so improbable that no one would read it. Soon afterward the things I wrote all started to come true. A year later I started again and, this time, it became even more unbelievable. Life continued to overtake art and when a recent worldwide tragedy happened, the synchronicities were too much and I had to tell someone. I have to tell all of you.

Next month I will be announcing the publishing of “The Fourth Choice’. It is part of a series called ‘The Surcadian Chronicles’. Really it is already online and went up on the very day George passed. Synchonicity. So many of you are in this novel, have inspired an army of characters, live in the places I write about and share my hopes and fears. So many of you have inspired me to write and so many of you have inspired me with your lives. People like George.

George, the quiet bartender at the Cottage bar introduced a sixteen year old boy to Lawrence Durrell and the Greek mystic poets. That led me to Henry Miller. That led me to Big Sur. He also spoke of the mythical  Arcadia, the politics and the struggles of the Cypriots and their island of Copper. The holiness of Cypress trees and how Greeks discovered America. He also taught me that the word for 'mystic' and 'mute' come from the Greek word 'muo'. Mystery is quiet like the night. We do not have ears to hear it but can sometimes see its wake in synchronicities. 'Quiet' is not 'silent'. It means 'only  for the mystics'; 'mueo', like George. Quiet.

All of that, somehow, helped lead me to 'Surcadia', the mythology of my writings. The seeds of my politics, poetry and personal mythos found their beginnings sitting at a bar with people like Rodney and our friend George. Rodney is not necssarily a 'synchronicity' kind of a guy and neither was George. George would probably say that Jung stole it from the Greeks. He would probably say that 'synchronicity' simply means 'together in time'. I, however, believe in synchronicities…

Chasing dreams are something to aspire
and I am fervent and hopeful each day
Revitalized with new strength and desire
to always live a worthy way.

Afharisto, old friend. Yassou and Opa…

Why I Would Vote For A Republican...

Yesterday, I had this conversation with a friend.


"Why would you vote for a Republican?"


"Lincoln was a Republican..."


"Yeah, but he was a different kind of Republican..."


And that would be my answer as well. In a recent blog I endorsed Bert Bleke for GRCC college board. Yes, I know he is a Republican endorsed by Republicans. I was a parent in East Grand Rapids under his tenure. I was a parent under his term as interim superintendent for GRPS. He was the super for Lowell and went on to fill the interim spot at Blandford Nature Center and United Way.


I think you have to look at people and not parties. I think you have to look at the trajectory of a life and see if it is pointed towards your community, your children, your values and, most of all, the future of those things. Will they be a perfect match? NO. But not because of his party affiliation. It will be so because we are all different and is that not our value as liberals, democrats, progressives, independents, etc.? Or do we only embrace difference that agrees with us?


I heartily endorse Fred Sebulske. According to the Press he is winning in the polls and that is a good thing. But there are TWO spots for the board and to choose only one spot means that someone else will fill that second spot. Who will that second person person be? Make no mistake, to not vote is to nullify the vote you did cast.


That the remaining choices are all Republicans is no accident. That they are all different is also no accident. You must judge them as people. Not so much by what they say but by what they have done and who endorses them, who pays for their passage into the race.


I will tell you that Mr. Bleke is currently running third in the polls and has little or no signage out, no FaceBook fans and you won't hear him Tweet. His endorsements are from the Press and other conservative media, community and business people. He is an old school Republican. Think Gerald Ford, Vern Ehlers, Paul Henry, the kind of men we used to send to Congress here. Men I admire. No, I did not always agree with them and I do not always agree with Mr. Bleke, he will undoubtedly side with managements, privatization and other conservative ideals.


But what are your other choices?


I am really trying to keep my blogging about being FOR something and not against, so I can equivocally say that I am FOR Fred Sebulske and Bert Bleke. 

I will let the others speak for themselves:


http://michiganfamily.org/main-votersguide/2011ComCol/GrandRapidsCommunityCollege.pdf


You will notice that Mr. Bleke and Mr. Sebulske 'chose not to respond'. Sometimes the most responsible course is to not respond. Other times? Not so much. You too can choose to not respond and allow others to vote in your stead. You can also choose to vote for only one of two spots and leave the rest to others who are well funded, endorsed and  voting in droves. Or you can choose to fill the two vacancies with those you believe will best fulfill the mission of a college that is growing at an unprecedented rate and was intended to be an institution for Public Education. For All.