New Poem: CALIFORNIA GERRYMANDER REFERENDUM RAMBLE

 can’t get around the California referendum system where the issues aren’t decided by actual study of the issues instead we’re going to have right wing consultants crank out commercials that will scare no information voters into believing their voting rights will be taken away and of course Gavin Newsom will fundraise off this and perhaps rasp his way through a few public announcements about the Importance of 2026 maybe selling the notion that this will check some of Donald and J.D.’s worst behavior 

then if it passes and it likely will, Gavin and the Democrats who love holding power will resume triangulation making trans and homeless demonized like Bill Clinton doing this to Sister Souljah in 1992

and we’ll return to Oh What Will The Republicans Think. No Social Programs and Can We Get The Joe Rogan vote

New Poem: RED TO ORANGE AND BACK TO RED

 it’s springtime 

 it’s the annual celebration of Resurrection 

 it’s the local supermarket telling customers:

 sanitize your carts your own damn self

 it’s all the beach towns eager for spring break $

 get as many college kids on the piers as possible 

 before the media optics look too bad

 and we have to limit access and hand out masks

 >

 on the West Coast,

 we read about infection spread in the Midwest

 but we—again—want normal before we’re ready

 begging for a few more gallops before the storm clouds gather

  

THE REOPEN THE ECONOMY COVID CIRCLE GAME

 Inspired by the Joni Mitchell song:

 Today the governors and the mayors sing open up fast

 Masks peel off in Texas, indoor restaurant service in NY and CA

 No longer fearful of potential spread and variants

 Looking the other way from falling stars

 >

 And the coronavirus still goes round and round

 No way to keep it curbed will be found

 When White Republicans won’t bare their arms

 And we enter a second year with potential for great harm

 

 

 

PANDEMIC RAMBLE #2

 first it was the NBA championship then it was the World Series and there was also Halloween and don’t forget Trump scaring some of America including his MAGA followers into standing in long lines to vote and soon it will be Thanksgiving and how can some people bear to be apart from family members and later Christmas will come and how can some people bear to be apart yet again from family members and it’s just family members in the house and they’ll say they don’t need masks because they know everyone there and they don’t know anyone who has the virus and someone will mention the Governor too scared of temporary lockdowns and how he bent the rules he wanted others to obey and observe and someone else will say it’s God’s Will if they catch the virus and too many people will sit together, eat and talk for far too long and roll the dice with their own lives and whoever they come into contact with that isn’t family

my home town still has high school football games in the midst of the virus and from what I hear people aren’t wearing masks and it’s a small town in what they call Texoma which is where Texas and Oklahoma are separated by the Red River and maybe they justify no masks by not living in a city and choosing to live their lives and roll the dice and God’s will and all things related to that, though some of them go to the mall in the nearest city to shop and roll more dice on their and other people’s health since the small town has very few businesses to speak of

someone posted a meme on Facebook where Lady and The Tramp are glum and sad because their Italian restaurant has plexiglass dividers and Lady and The Tramp are both covered by plexiglass domes and they can’t share a strand of spaghetti and I think to myself THIS ISN’T FUNNY

we get COVID-19 fatigue which is another way to say we lack faith in a better future and aren’t willing and able to be considerate to ourselves and others until that future arrives

as I wrote once before, people made it through World War II with the rationing of food and gasoline and no new cars to buy and that lasted for over three and a half years

in 2020, we yell, we throw masks on the ground in parking lots and pack way too many people inside a house just because it’s easier to stick your tongue out at notions of sacrifice, survival, science and a kinder, more considerate world

New Poem: SCIENCE NEVER KNOWS

 keep your mind turned off

 relax and breathe maskless air

 it’s the burning season followed

 by the less cold than usual season

 don’t believe those educated pessimists

 don’t worry about within and without

 just help us keep punching others for you

 so you won’t have to think about 

 how much we take away

 and how often we laugh behind your back

 remember, loser and sucker,

 you’re voting for the color of our dreams

 

 

 

New Poem: DONALD TRUMP WILL HAVE HIS REVENGE ON CALIFORNIA

Inspired by the Nirvana song about actress Frances Farmer, though the setting and context differ.

It’s so relieving today
To know you’ll be flying away
As soon as you set the explosives timer
>
Your L.A. skyscraper never happened
No deference shown by Jerry and Gavin
And Orange County turned moderate blue
>
Fulfill GOP hopes!
Punch the liberals into the ropes!
Set emission controls on fire
>
Move the poor and desperate away
Overdevelop where they used to stay
Consider building more concentration camps
>
I’ll miss the comfort in breathing clean air
I’ll miss the comfort in breathing clean air
I’ll miss the comfort in breathing clean air

A decade after 9/11--and San Francisco BART stations still won't reopen restrooms.

It's not often that I'll agree with something written in a Michael Lacey-syndicated publication, but here's a link to a past SF WEEKLY article about how BART passengers in San Francisco need to use restrooms in advance of the descent into certain stations:
http://www.sfweekly.com/2010-04-07/news/if-bart-reopens-its-public-restrooms-then-the-terrorists-win/

CA Supreme Court upholds existing gay marriages--but bans further ones.

Thanks to T.J. Sullivan on Twitter for printing this link to a LOS ANGELES TIMES blog article regarding the upholding of Proposition 8 by the California Supreme Court: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/05/california-supreme-court-upholds-prop-8-gay-marriage-remains-banned-in-state.html

As for the likely 2010 overturn-8 campaign, one hopes that the mistakes made by the pro-gay marriage forces can be rectified next year (including the failure to properly counteract what was probably the most devastating pro-8 commercial--San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom uttering the words "whether you like it or not"--which nurtured the resentment/bigotry of millions of cultural conservatives).