Rexroth, Deep in the Night

Kenneth Rexroth

I lay awake all night, worried. I tried thinking of the stars overhead, tried thinking of oceans I've swum in. I remembered people I've wronged. Thought of old enemies. Wrestled with the goat of imagination. At 4 AM I thought about getting up and making a cup of tea but then fell into a deep sleep. It's the end of a dark year. Here are some lines by Kenneth Rexroth. Happy New Year.

 

Ten years ago the snow falling
All a long winter night
I had lain waking in my bed alone   
Turning my heavy thoughts
And no way might
Sleep
Remembering divers things long gone
Now
In the long day in the hour of small shadow   
I walk on the continent's last western hill   
And lie prone among the iris in the grass   
My eyes fixed on the durable stone
That speaks and hears as though it were myself

Caption This Photo of Rebozo, Nixon, and J. Edgar Hoover


On the left, Bebe Rebozo, reputed now to have been Nixon's secret paramour, and certainly his money launderer. In the middle, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover. Tricky Dick is seated behind the derrière of a poodle.

Nixon: "Really? You just shake the dog and it shits nickels?"

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Farewell

My sister in law Karen passed away last night after a long fight with virulent breast cancer. She died at home, in her husband’s arms. Dave took care of her with the devotion of real love and I’m grieving for him and his son Michael, who is a college freshman. I always aim my spiritual hopes in the manner of Walt Whitman — the universe is taking Karen back now and it’s filled with life giving energy. And love.

Ron Paul's Easy Violence

Here is Ron Paul in 1992:

“An ex-cop I know advises that if you have to use a gun on a youth, you should leave the scene immediately, disposing of the wiped off gun as soon as possible. Such a gun cannot, of course, be registered to you, but one bought privately (through the classifieds, for example).”

Notice that Paul cannot by definition be talking about the use of a handgun for self-defense as he’s advocating for the premeditated purchase of an unregistered firearm solely for the purpose of murdering a young person. One understands that this is Texas blarney: for “youth” you can read “colored youth” and for the conditional future perfect tense “if you have to use a gun on a youth” you can see one of Paul’s John Birch Society fixations, eg, the inevitable race war that he would love to see unleashed.

In ordinary times, or what passes for them, I’m not inclined to give a misanthropist like Paul much more than a shrug, but his recent surge in Iowa serves as a reminder that Americans will often overlook the most specious and reprehensible ideas if they can be convinced that a candidate stands for liberty. In Ron Paul’s case freedom means freedom from civil rights– which is to say that he’s for rolling back the clock on everything from the voting rights act to the ADA. Civil liberties are not abstractions, nor are they regionally conditional unless of course you’re not concerned with them at all. Both Ron Paul and his son Rand are hostile to civil rights but quick on their feet to declare they’re for getting the government off the average citizen’s back. Libertarian rhetoric sounds so good to Americans, especially to those who carry loads of class fed resentments. Remember the Willie Horton ads? Ron Paul plays vengeance fantasies with a multi-cultural society and people ought not to forget it.

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Fight Breaks Out in Church of Nativity, Really

Scuffles have broken out between rival groups of Greek Orthodox and Armenian clerics in a turf war at Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity.

Bemused tourists looked on as about 100 priests fought with brooms while cleaning the church in preparation for Orthodox Christmas, on 7 January.

Palestinian police armed with batons and shields broke up the clashes.

See full story:

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-16347418

 

As Christopher Hitchens said so well:

 

“Human decency is not derived from religion. It precedes it.” 

SignOn.org Beta – Save Health care for Low-Income and Disabled Mainers

Stop Governor LePage from making devastating cuts to health care for Maine's most vulnerable citizens. These short-sighted cuts will end up costing Maine more in the long run.

Sent from my iPhone

Yep, Ron Paul is a True Statesman

“I’ve been told not to talk, but these stooges don’t scare me. Threats or no threats, I’ve laid bare the coming race war in our big cities. The federal-homosexual cover-up on AIDS (my training as a physician helps me see through this one.)”

–Iowa front runner Ron Paul from his newsletter.

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The Daily News story – Book digs up rumors of Richard Nixon’s gay affair

I always suspected Nixon of being Bebe’s baby:

Check out this article:

Book digs up rumors of Richard Nixon’s gay affair