The Four Clowns of the Apocalypse

Would make a good roll of toilet paper.


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New Book

Will likely bring this new work out in about a week, with a few minor changes and improvements to the cover pictured here.

The cover photo is by RP Thomas, himself a resident of Talent, Oregon, but not a character in "The Talent Poems," because those people are all fictional, and RP is very much a real dude.

I designed the book of course, because I do everything around here.

The poems?  You'll have to read them and decide for yourself because what I really know about writing is limited to what I know.

This is what Buddy Dooley says the book is about:

The founder of Round Bend Press Books brings forth another volume of poetry exploring the political and social plight of the common man. In the first set of poems, "Nightscape in Empire," Mr. Simons explores universal themes of resistance and personal choice, themes of political and personal upheaval that play out in the ordinary act of everyday living and survival. These are protest songs rooted in rebellion and an ultimately hopeful vision of what Mr. Simons imagines a more just world would look like. "The Talent Poems" is a fictional narrative centered on the lives of a small group of small-town citizens in Talent, Oregon. In creating the characters that inhabit the town and his poems, the writer experiments with archetypes and a genre storytelling form that is in equal parts imaginative biography and social satire.

Whatever that means.


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Shoot a Football, Be a Hero

Two very different "controversies" are playing out in the American hype machine these days, both illustrative of why claiming citizenship in our vast miasma of inane unconsciousness is so daunting, even disheartening.

The first is the silly notion that pro football matters--nobody with common sense cares whether or not a football was carrying the right measure of air during a recent NFL playoff game.  Among dumb debates, this one is a universal corker, a sure sign of mass stupidity.

The second is the "debate" over the movie American Sniper.   If you don't understand by now that you can't win when you simply invade a sovereign nation, run by a dictator or not, and start plinking off invader-described "insurgents" like so many moving targets in a sleazy American carnival shooting gallery run by sleazy war profiteers--while extolling the virtues of God and Country--you are hopelessly idiotic.

About the first issue I quote the American writer CD who said the other day over coffee, "Who cares?"

About the second, Sheldon Rich published this at CounterPunch today.

Jesse Ventura, no friend of the late American sniper Kyle, had this to say.

What a week, huh?


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West Hills, East

Portland freelancer Michael Arellano took this shot Sunday night.


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Alike

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Bootstraps

This would be a sweet deal for every underpaid worker in Oregon.

The right argues that it would cost jobs of course, and indeed it might impact marginal businesses that are skimming by on the lucre they maintain by paying the current minimum wage, but that is beside the point.

If you are a businessman and you're not giving your workers a livable wage you are an exploitative bastard to begin with, and you don't deserve to ride on the backs of the people who are making you money while they struggle for survival.  Sorry Charlie, if your business fails.

Life is full of compromises, and the one here is that your business might go under.  We should not care about that, because all it really means is that you will eventually need to find another way to adapt to survive.  It also means your underpaid workers will likely look forward to the opportunity to re-enter a market where they will eventually find a better paying job--the indefatigable point of the law.

Believe it or not, new jobs will appear as well because more money will be circulating throughout the economy and demand for workers will increase as people spend their extra income throughout the community.  In the very least, workers will be partially unburdened from the constant pressure of an unlivable wage.

To the argument that says inflation will offset any gains made by workers, keep in mind that increased competition will effectively counterbalance that as those businesses that successfully deal with marginal adjustments will win, just as they always have.

Most enchantingly, businesses now reaping exorbitant profits on the backs of low-wage earners will be forced to share more of the spoils in an economy long under their excessive manipulation and control.

The goal here is solid.  There should be no exemptions.  Play ball or perish.  If you're already playing ball, you have no worry.

If you're an exploitative bastard, worry all you want because your time is rapidly approaching.


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Youth Lost on the Young

The best Charles Deemer poems do what all good poetry does--reveal fundamental truths about the human condition that are recognizable to even the stone-aged and the most ambivalent of cynics. Another fine piece by the RBP contributor.


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Bigelow on Zinn

A key premise that needs to be questioned, according to Zinn, is the notion of “national interests,” a term so common in the political and academic discourse as to be almost invisible. Zinn points out that the “one big family” myth begins with the Constitution’s preamble: “We the people of the United States. . .” Zinn noted that it wasn't “we the people” who established the Constitution in Philadelphia—it was 55 rich white men. Missing from or glossed over in the traditional textbook treatment are race and class divisions, including the rebellions of farmers in Western Massachusetts, immediately preceding the Constitutional Convention in 1787. No doubt, the Constitution had elements of democracy, but Zinn argues that it “established the rule of slaveholders, and merchants, and bondholders.”

Portland educator Bill Bigelow remembers Howard Zinn on the fifth anniversary of the great historian's death.


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Landscape/RP Thomas

i like this shot

dunnigan hills in n. california

film for sure

visual treat every time

stop the car

pick which film camera

contemplate all the settings

fire the shutter--RP Thomas


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The Talent Poems

 

Puzzled

In Noble Coffee, Harry Reems was
struggling with a crossword puzzle
when an old codger walked in and
ordered a double latte with skim
before peering in his direction.

Harry thought, who is this grizzled
old fool?  The graybeard looked right at
him and Harry turned away, undone
by his steely gaze, which if he had
admitted it, was cowardly of him.

He seems like a crazy dude, Harry said
to himself, feeling the old man’s roving
eyes as they burned into his back; he
was coming over to say something,
Reems knew as the crank drew nearer.

The old stranger looked down at Harry
and smiled. “Having trouble with that,
Mr. Reems?”  Annoyed, Harry covered
the puzzle, unused to being  recognized.
“Sir,” he said, “have we met before?”

“You’re the horn player!  I was a big fan
of yours in Portland years ago when you
played with Mel Brown at Jimmy Mak’s!”
Harry relaxed.  “No kidding?” he said.  “I
guess I don’t know you.  I’m very sorry.”

“Don’t be, friend.  The name’s Dooley.”
“Dooley,” Reems said. “A fan...really?”

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The Bicycle/Charles Lucas

"Took a ride and found a good place to take a picture of my bike..."


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Mr. Cub

"It's a great day for baseball.  Let's play two."

I lived the credo when I was a boy, how about you?

Mr. Cub, Ernie Banks dead at 83.





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Koyaanisqatsi

Terence Connery sent along this link to a great film.

Thanks, TC.









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Reading Lips, Sinking Ships

In the tradition of the best football follies.  This has over 9 million views.


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Cindy

How much courage does it really take for a sniper to be given co-ordinates from a spotter and then firing from hundreds of yards away? To me that is the definition of cowardice even forgetting about the lies that got both Casey and Kyle to Iraq and the ones who made billions in profits while Casey died thousands of miles away from his loving home and a vet with PTSD would ironically end up murdering Kyle back here in the states.

I will always be proud of my son who is a grand hero to me for refusing orders in the heat of battle and ashamed by a cold-blooded killer like Kyle and a nation that lifts him up as the standard of heroism. I find it supremely ironic and sad that NOT being a killer is frowned upon here while being a happy killer makes one a best-selling author and garners all kinds of award nominations and ticket sales for those who wish to exploit this nation’s bloodlust.

A mother's anguish continues.


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