Life and Death...

It's been a long time , I don't write on the bloggy blog often these days , but my uncle of 95 years is dying , and it makes me sad. I haven't seen uncle Morris for a few years , he lives in Oakland now , after living in Evanston all those years , it seems so long ago. We spent a lot of time together , he taught me many things I'm just now realizing. He was so healthy all this time , he is an amazing man . I can't forget him. He had a heart attack when he was younger than I am now and he has spent the rest of his life being healthy , some people thought he was crazy , he is eccentric , that's for sure , but wise , very wise , and , you can just see that his whole essence is in teaching something to the world, whether it be about sharing the worlds food , ecology and keeping a garden going to keep the earth going , when you were around this guy , you just knew important stuff was being talked about. I'm going to Oakland in a few days , to see Morris one last time. He is my last uncle , my last relative of that era , and I wanted to go , it seems important. My mother died almost three years ago , I was there around when she died , my dad died some twenty one years ago , and this is it. I feel very old now , there isn't that much time left , we have to figure out how to make the rest of our lives better than the time leading up to now.

What can I say, we're in a really strange place in our history. We have the first Black president ,we're making progress on national health care like we never have before , and white people are REALLY PISSED OFF!!! The folks in the south still are fighting the civil war , some black entertainers such as Kanye West , R Kelly , and Tylor Perry, still have to create minstral shows to sell to the black public , who seem to be bying them up in droves. And the lower to middle class whites still love thier "foix noise" , selling them fear and paronoia of the "other", while telling them that it's ok. WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON??? We are a bi polar country , with a bi-polar approach to everything. "Sex is good, sex is bad. Pharmaceuticals are good , DRUGS ARE BAD!!! We are the biggest drug users on the planet , both the legal and the illegal kind. We are the most overweight society in the world , and we are one of the most unhealthy societies in the world , both mentaly and physically. We spend inordinate amounts of money on wars that are making some corporations richer than they have ever been , while we can't seem to get a health care plan together , without making the insurance companies angry. We are fed "information" on a daily basis , most of it lacking in any substance or information , "reality" shows continue to be popular , although I don't know what reality they are following , 'cause thay have nothing to do with my reality. Are we in that "1984" , "Brave New World" world , where life is artificial , and the stuff they're beaming to you on tv and other sources is "realer" than actual life? Yes , this country is the best and worst of everything on the planet, and we get to bitch about our government , and , if we bitch about it enough , eventully change , somewhat.

This isn't easy for me , but I'll try. What in hell is going on? Does mediocrity always win out? Does "American idol" suddenly become the template that all entertainment is judged? does anyone really care about britney and k fed , now simply known as "fed - x". Are we Americans so shut off from the rest of the world that the only news we get or believe is foix news , or cnn? Maybe not , I think fox's ratings are down , people are becoming smarter than they took them for , just for now. It's insidious , this hijacking of the news media , this tony snow jobbing of the news media. What happened to the Dan Rathers' , the Walter Cronkites' , of the past that we really could trust to give us as true a news report as we could get at that time. Well, Dan Rather got removed from the airwaves for reporting something that was inherently true , but probably was handled badly , the story about how pres georgie boy avoided going to Vietnam.
How did the American people allow so much damage to occur in just five years? We allowed a very narrow portion of this country take control of a very large portion of the population.
Hey dems, while you are investigating the policies of the Iraq war that lead us here , why don't you open up the books of these "super churches" that have reaped millions of tax dollars from the "no child left behind " and georgies other windfall programs like his "faith - based " initiatives to these "christian " programs that are really only there to bankrupt the treasury. Do I talk like a conspiracy theorist? Well , maybe , but the facts are there.
And , while we're on the subject of conspiracy theories , has anyone noticed how empty the neighborhood streets are at night now? I mean , when I was growing up , ( now I sound like an old man , " back in my day , we used to walk ten miles to school in the snow that was over our heads, but we didn't complain") , there were kids on the streets until way past dark , we used to play in the streets , especially in the summer, and our parents didn't call us in 'till , like 9:00pm.
Of course , now a days , nobody does that. There are hardly any kids out on the streets after dark . The whole family is in the house , watching the paranoia network , or the abduction network , or some such thing. Hey , kids , they keep telling us the crime rate is down, but at the same time they keep telling us about all the children that were snatched up off the street , never to see the light of day again. Double messages ? Nah , the American people would never stand for that. And don't get me wrong child abduction happens, and pedophiles are out there, all terrible things. But , I would venture to say not nearly as many as it would seem that the news media reports. The news media seems to be there for two reasons , one of which is to scare the living hell out of you , so you'll stay inside and keep watching their rather skewed version of reality, the other is , of course to give you that skewed version of reality , of which , maybe 20 - 50% may be true. And what's that old saying ,
"If you repeat a lie enough times , it becomes truth"? That , my friends , is the definition of propaganda, and , we Americans are fat , lazy and stupid enough to fall for most of it.

Oh kay! The repugnants got their clocks cleaned!!! Yay!!! The hackers didn't hack. Oh, yeah, the repugs and the demos are all alike?? If I hear that any more, I'll choke. I mean , are the demos trying to turn this country into a christo - facist landscape , "no white child will be left behind" , anyone? Georgie boy , the boy king , the never grown up teenager on a bender , never been accountable for anything in his life, just waiting for "nucular" war , so he can rise up to his reward in heaven , with all his christo - facist buddies like pat robberson , jerry fallwell , and james dobson, who all treat their idiot flocks like so many ignorant children , which they are for following them. And , also , don't forget , georgie gave millions to these "churches" , as part of his policy, bringing the church and state together , almost like hitler did in the third reich. Does he value his life , or is he so miserable that he wants to bring ruin and havoc to all the world in the name of "christianity" and "democracy"? The Iraq war will go on for quite awile , we can't just walk out of there with the place in such a state. Halliburton will continue to reap their profits , and the government will declare bankrupcy , if it hasn't already. Oh , yeah , georgie gave all the govrnment money to all his corporate buddies , and the oil companies have made more money than any corporation in history. georgie needs a time out , needs to go sit in the corner. So yes , the demos take money from big corporations , but not to the extent that these clowns have gone."I'm a uniter , not a divider?" You must think were a bunch of morons , well , a lot of us have been , but , maybe were catching on.

Ok! the computer still works! Computers are weird. Have you ever thought that there was a little mind inside of your computer , acting like a ten year old child , just doing whatever the hell it wants to do , and screwing things up for you for a short time, while you run around like a chicken with it's head cut off , all freaked out. Then you get home later , and it's repaired itself ... for now. I had put in a disk earlier in the day to put a new program for a very basic digital camera, in fact , I had one previously , and the program said "toy camera" on the little icon. It sort of works , it doesn't take vey good photos , but it truely is a "toy camera". But , I'm still learning how to work the computer , 'cause it doesn't really act like the human mind works , it doesn't have emotions , or thoughts , just little x's and o's and icons and pixels. But don't ask me how a computer works, 'cause I haven't a clue. I can sort of explain electricity , but I don't really know how it works. But that reminds me of another thing... We just had our elections , and the repubs got their clocks cleaned. I was thinking that the machines would take over and that the peoples votes didn't matter , and seeing how georgie boy was "elected" and than "reelected" , I feared for the worst. I mean , can we really trust those new fangled voting machines that don't have a paper trail? Did some of the machines not have a paper trail? I don't know. "OOh , it makes it soo easy to vote" , I can hear some people saying. Yes , and it makes it soo easy to steal votes. Are we that lazy in the mind that we have to be amazed by new technology that allows us to "vote smart" , while we are being ripped off by computer hackers?
Well, the election is over , and the hackers didn't hack , (at least I don't think they did), And the demos have won the senate and the house. Impeachment , anyone? We'll see....

A Note on Halloween

What is it when the trees turn all shades of colors ,
The leaves aspire to golds , reds, and oranges?
Is it Gods' little gift, the brisk chill in the air, the
pumpkins on the lawns, celebrating the
Pagen Halloween.
Kids walk door to door,dressed in silly costumes
of people they wish they were,
begging for sugered treats,
that the dentist will surly thank them for taking,
the dental work will keep him busy for years.

Hi , everyone , I'm Charles " chucky " Bernstein. I'm a poet and performer. I hate "political correctness". I like "free speech". I love to piss people off , although I would never admit it. I write a little blog about my life , well , my version of my life . People are always mean to me , and at my workplace , they hate me , so I blog about it , giving everyone funny names. I don't take criticism well , although I like to criticize everyone and everything. And , did I forget to mention , I collect everything , I mean everything , I try to save everything I've written over the years , but mostly I collect meaningless stuff that no one really needs , I just need stuff to make my life more meaningful. No one understands that . I live in filthy apartments , and blame the landlords for my lot in life. I have mice and dirt , and that's not my fault. I was just eating a pizza on the floor the other day , and I noticed a mouse walking up to me trying to get the pizza. Well , I threw a piece of pizza his way , and he scurried off. That'll show him . I don't know where the mouse went or the piece of pizza went . Maybe I'll find it tomorrow and have it for a snack. I'm not dirty, really I'm just messy. It's no big deal. I know where everything is. Hey , I'm going to be published soon , so I'll be out of here soon.