PEASANTS ALL OVER AMERICA...

Photo: Da Rev's Uncle Butch, whom I lovingly refer to as a nut-fundie. He resides in Moraine, Ohio.  He posts screeds on message boards under the handle John3_16

Butch is a peasant, as am I, I guess. I hope he appreciates this... 

"EASTER MORNING" - by Jim Harrison
Writer’s Almanac

On Easter morning all over America the peasants are frying potatoes in bacon grease.

We're not supposed to have "peasants"
but there are tens of millions of them
frying potatoes on Easter morning,
cheap and delicious with catsup.

If Jesus were here this morning he might
be eating fried potatoes with my friend
who has a '51 Dodge and a '72 Pontiac.

When his kids ask why they don't have
a new car he says, "these cars were new once
and now they are experienced."

He can fix anything and when rich folks
call to get a toilet repaired he pauses
extra hours so that they can further
learn what we're made of.

I told him that in Mexico the poor say
that when there's lightning the rich
think that God is taking their picture.
He laughed.

Like peasants everywhere in the history
of the world ours can't figure out why
they're getting poorer. Their sons join
the army to get work being shot at.

Your ideals are invisible clouds
so try not to suffocate the poor,
the peasants, with your sympathies.
They know that you're staring at them.

"OHIO (used to be) THE HEART OF IT ALL"

Gays lobby lawmakers but report little progress

BY JON CRAIG | ENQUIRERCOLUMBUS BUREAU

From the article:

"A national study released Wednesday by the group (Equality Ohio) ranked Ohio last among all 50 states for gay-friendly laws... “Top states: California and Minnesota, with scores of 10... Ohio's score: minus 2…" 

The punditry refers to them as "values" voters - an activist minority - who keep returning incumbents to state office who focus on a narrow agenda reflecting their cultivated ignorance, parochialism, xenophobia, bigotry, and overt hatred in this only-recently reddened state. Meanwhile, many of the rest of us watch in amazement as the bidness of the state - for example - real tax reform, property tax relief, fair school funding, infrastructure maintenance, medicaid restructuring and attention to rising tuition costs at state universities - remains undone.

I'm beginning to understand what it must be like for the rational, modern-thinking, inclusive folks who live in states like Alabama and Mississippi. The more things change the more they remain the same.

"COMING OUT" as LATENT...

I'm sure I'm not the only one who suspects that the folks who raise the loudest clatter about homosexuals may be less than secure in their own sexuality. O' course many homophobes also harbor bigoted opinions regarding people of other races or religions, or ethnic or national origin. It doesn't take a psychoanalyst to figure there are some self-esteem issues underlying their fears and loathing... 

JESUS got himself all washed, oiled and perfumed for the party only to discover to his disappointment that some dummy invited girls also. ChristOnThe Crapper

CALL IT MEXIFORNIA… Make San Diego the capital.

OR - why don't we include the Mexican gummint in our plans to secure the border and stabilize Mexican immigration?

Seriously, I've had this CRAZY idea for awhile:

IF we could structure a subsidization of families in Mexico whose head of household, mainly husband-fathers, who stay home and work near home, I'm sure it would be less co$tly to the federal, state and local budgets and our social service infrastructure. Certainly, such a plan would have the potential of strengthening the economy of Mexico and relieve some of the pressure on the US, giving our elected officials some breathing space to develop and implement a fair immigration system that should benefit most parties north and south of the border.

The subsidy would require strict controls to keep it from increasing gummint corruption in Mexico and to make certain the money went to heads of households of Mexican working families. Itwouldn't take the place of the need for this serious US attention to border security, a reasonable  process for identification, work clearances, and a track toward citizenship. 

ROMAN CATHOLICS LINK BOOK - MOVIE TO SATAN! 

Yup, it’s a suspense novel, a thriller that I found to be a fairly entertaining one at that. Please note that "The DaVinci Code" has been at the top of the bestseller lists for FICTION for over three years now. It has not appeared on any non-fiction lists that I'm aware of.

 I'm amused by the Christianist purists and literalists who are bleating like a herd of simpleton genus Ovis who think they smell a wolf over the horizon. I'm struck by the irony that so many are so exercised over Mr. Brown's device of extending and/or embellishing long-standing church doctrine which is derived from pagan myths. The biographical construct that represents Jesus of Nazareth, man or god, is fabricated from whole cloth. 

As the ornery but gifted Brit character actor Ian McKellan, who shines a pivotal supporting role in the Ron Howard movie, stated in an interview, "I think the Bible should have a disclaimer in the front of the book saying it is fiction - fiction - FICTION!"

CAGLE'S BLOG CARTOONIST NIK KOWSAR SENTENCED TO JAIL IN IRAN 
They gave him 4-months for insulting officials of the Iranian dictatorship... Fortunately, Nik lives in exile in Canada.

IRAN EYES BADGES FOR JEWS

Law would require non-Muslim insignia  Canada.com

Iranian expatriates living in Canada yesterday confirmed reports that the Iranian parliament, called the Islamic Majlis, passed a law this week setting a dress code for all Iranians, requiring them to wear almost identical "standard Islamic garments."

The law, which must still be approved by Iran's "Supreme Guide" Ali Khamenehi before being put into effect, also establishes special insignia to be worn by non-Muslims.

Iran's roughly 25,000 Jews would have to sew a yellow strip of cloth on the front of their clothes, while Christians would wear red badges and Zoroastrians would be forced to wear blue cloth...

Bernie Farber, the chief executive of the Canadian Jewish Congress, said he was "stunned" by the measure. "We thought this had gone the way of the dodo bird..."

Well, the officials in Iran's religio-fascist gummint ARE dodo birds! Aren't these the clowns who continually DENY the HOLOCAUST?!

RACIST CLAIMS TO KNOW RACISM WHEN HE SEES IT, blah, blah, blah...

In a recent message board exchange, Da Rev encountered a poster posturing as a white American who was all honked-off 'cuz he spotted "EBONY" magazine, the No. 1 African-American magazine in the world, in the racks at his physician's office. Typically, the provocateur cried foul, pointing out that the pages of the 60-year-old publication were "filled with black people" and "I only saw one white person and that was in an 'add'..."

On-line racists tend to lack imagination. A variant of this complaint is, "Why do they have a 'Miss Black America Pageant'. What do you think would happen if someone put on a "Miss White America Pageant?"

Responding to their posts becomes tedious, but Da Rev can't let 'em lie. Of course, one can point to the fact that many mainstream American institutions, from beauty pageants to magazines to scholarships to positions on professional sports teams, etc., represented only (or mostly) white participants until fairly recently in US history. Consequently, "EBONY magazine was founded nearly 60-years ago to offer new hope and positive images in a world that showed few positive images of African-Americans.EBONY has more features on Black women, men, teens, children and families than any other magazine" according to the magazine's website.

BUT WAIT! African-Americans aren't the only group publishing and reading publications that reflect their particular historical and cultural interests. A recent issue of a magazine Da Rev, who is Irish-French-German American, happens to have on hand, "Irish America", lists the "TOP 100 Irish American Business People" with complete bios on guys like the most famous (former) CEO in the world, Jack Welch, C-SPAN Founder-CEO Brian Lamb and William Clay Ford, Jr. The magazine features photos of attractive actors Jennifer Connolly and Colin Farrell, not to mention the late Peter Jennings.

In the self-imposed narrow, culturally anemic environment these on-line forum bigots apparently inhabit, I guess it may come as a shock that there are numerous roots-centric publications flourishing in the US. Da Pagan Baby, who's Italian-Hungarian-American, subscribed for a year to "Primo", a magazine full of photos and stories focused on Italian-Americans. Every issue was chockful o' goodfellas and goombahs. 

From time to time I pick up a copy of EBONY and enjoy the photo features and informative articles. I still have a few "keepers" of EBONY from the '60's when I subscribed for a couple years. A fellow slaughterhouse worker, who was black, was peddling subscriptions for some non-profit and offered me one. When I signed up, he offered to "donate" the subscription if I didn't want it showing up at my mailbox. I insisted that I wanted the magazine. "Why would I subscribe if I didn't want to receive the magazine?"

The publication was large - the size of the popular photojournals of the time (Life, Look) - and would not fit in our apartment mailbox. When the (caucasian) postman delivered our first copy of EBONY he knocked on the door and asked my wife if there were some mistake. She told him we had subscribed to the magazine. He handed it to my wife - offering to continue the practice so that it would not lay in front of our door where our neighbors would see it. Da Pagan Baby told him she thought the Postal Service probably would prefer that he make better use of his time and he could just leave it on the mat - "Please."

Postscript: In 1976 a copy of EBONY with a photo display of guys with shaved heads, Redd Foxx and other black celebrities, along with Telly Savales, the Greek-American star of the "Kojak" TV series, prompted Da Rev to take it down to the skin. I kept it that way for about 7 or 8 months... Yeah, I've got pictures of my chrome dome. I may spring one on ye's some other day...

YOW! WE HAVEN'T MOSEYED OVER TO THE LAST CHANCE GARAGE FOR AWHILE...

Orange you glad we steered you toward this sweet Tangerine Dream CHRYSLER convertible?

Good fortune. COMMENT! Please spread the meme. Don't smoke in bed...