StumbleUpon | compabutch's blog posts

http://compabutch.stumbleupon.com/review/37517507/

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:42:26 -0800

Could it be that I position myself without moral equivalent might be the reason nobody listens to me?

http://compabutch.stumbleupon.com/review/33653635/

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 03:04:32 -0700

I get sends from "Mr. Avatar" quite often - one or two a week. Mr. Avatar is another of those stumblers who has been quite inoffensive, except for sending me his spiritual, holy wisdom every few days. He is a stealthy fellow...... I don't remember just how or when he got on my friend list. But I have a problem with material like this. It makes me uncomfortable. It feels very personal to me when strangers presume to offer me advice on how to "correct" my fucked up spiritual, mental or moral health. I always sense an undercurrent of pious condescension in these messages, no matter how sweet and loving and fraternal they sound. They seem to be telling me that the way I have chosen to live my life after a half century of hard experience, is ALL WRONG.......... now I should just forget everything that I have learned and get with the Buddhist/ Hopi/ Scientology/ Pro Life/ vegetarian/ Anti Gay/ Unitarian/ non smoking/ Mormon/ semi-automatic 9mm/ free-enterprise/ Jesus-loving, "spiritual" program, and my miserable life will be worth living again. My own mother didn't know me as well as these creepy zealots think they do......... How DARE they offer to teach me THE TRUTH? These "friends" haven't shown the least interest in knowing who I am, so how did they become so certain that I desperately require their salvation?

If this message offends you in any way, this might be the perfect time to "unsubscribe" me, and take yourself the fuck off my friends list.

http://compabutch.stumbleupon.com/review/33393699/

Sat, 06 Jun 2009 17:50:40 -0700

I had been told that society’s institutions were founded on justice and equality, and all around me I could see nothing but lies and treachery. Everyday I was disabused further. Everywhere I went, I witnessed the same pain in some, the same delights in others. It did not take me long to realize that the same great words that I had been raised to venerate: honor, devotion, duty were merely a mask hiding the most shameful turpitude.

French anarchist Emile Henry, (1872-1894)

http://compabutch.stumbleupon.com/review/33021460/

Fri, 22 May 2009 14:35:54 -0700

A Work of Artifice

The bonsai tree
in the attractive pot
could have grown eighty feet tall
on the side of a mountain
till split by lightning.
But a gardener
carefully pruned it.
It is nine inches high.
Every day as he
whittles back the branches
the gardener croons,
It is your nature
to be small and cozy,
domestic and weak;
how lucky, little tree,
to have a pot to grow in.
With living creatures
one must begin very early
to dwarf their growth:
the bound feet,
the crippled brain,
the hair in curlers,
the hands you
love to touch.

Marge Piercy

http://compabutch.stumbleupon.com/review/30397584/

Thu, 19 Feb 2009 22:39:50 -0800

THE GREAT TABLECLOTH - Pablo Neruda

When they were called to the table,

the tyrants came rushing

with their temporary ladies,

it was fine to watch the women pass

like wasps with big bosoms

followed by those pale

and unfortunate public tigers.

The peasant in the field ate

his poor quota of bread,

he was alone, it was late,

he was surrounded by wheat,

but he had no more bread;

he ate it with grim teeth,

looking at it with hard eyes.

In the blue hour of eating,

the infinite hour of the roast,

the poet abandons his lyre,

takes up his knife and fork, puts his glass on the table,

and the fishermen attend

the little sea of the soup bowl.

Burning potatoes protest

among the tongues of oil.

The lamb is gold on its coals

and the onion undresses.

It is sad to eat in dinner clothes,

like eating in a coffin,

but eating in convents

is like eating underground.

Eating alone is a disappointment,

but not eating matters more,

is hollow and green, has thorns

like a child of fish-hooks

trailing from the heart,

clawing at your insides.

Hunger feels like pincers,

like the bite of crabs,

it burns and has no fire.

Hunger is a cold fire.

Let us sit down to eat

with all those who haven't eaten;

let us spread great tablecloths,

put salt in the lakes of the world,

set up planetary bakeries,

tables with strawberries in snow,

and a plate like the moon itself

from which we can all eat.

For now I ask no more

than the justice of eating.

http://compabutch.stumbleupon.com/review/29977529/

Fri, 06 Feb 2009 09:23:05 -0800

PILOH SHITT HAIKU

spoonerism come
pun still numbah one
winter Lit-wanking please go

(with apologies to Brad Pitt's new baby girl, Shilo.)

http://compabutch.stumbleupon.com/review/28849404/

Tue, 30 Dec 2008 19:21:10 -0800

SN 1006 Supernova Remnant

A new star, likely the brightest supernova in recorded human history, lit up planet Earth's sky in the year 1006 AD. The expanding debris cloud from the stellar explosion, found in the southerly constellation of Lupus, still puts on a cosmic light show across the electromagnetic spectrum. In fact, this composite view includes X-ray data in blue from the Chandra Observatory, optical data in yellowish hues, and radio image data in red. Now known as the SN 1006 supernova remnant, the debris cloud appears to be about 60 light-years across and is understood to represent the remains of a white dwarf star. Part of a binary star system, the compact white dwarf gradually captured material from its companion star. The buildup in mass finally triggered a thermonuclear explosion that destroyed the dwarf star. Because the distance to the supernova remnant is about 7,000 light-years, that explosion actually happened 7,000 years before the light reached Earth in 1006. Shockwaves in the remnant accelerate particles to extreme energies and are thought to be a source of the mysterious cosmic rays.

http://compabutch.stumbleupon.com/review/28113658/

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 14:18:56 -0800

Dear Brother Obama,

You have no idea, really, of how profound this moment is for us. Us being the black people of the Southern United States. . . .
that you would actually appear, someday, was part of our strength. Seeing you take your rightful place, based solely on your wisdom, stamina and character, is a balm for the weary warriors of hope, previously only sung about. . . .

I would advise you to remember that you did not create the disaster that the world is experiencing, and you alone are not responsible for bringing the world back to balance. A primary responsibility that you do have, however, is to cultivate happiness in your own life. . . .

We are used to seeing men in the White House soon become as white-haired as the building; we notice their wives and children looking strained and stressed. They soon have smiles so lacking in joy that they remind us of scissors. This is no way to lead. Nor does your family deserve this fate.

One way of thinking about all this is: It is so bad now that there is no excuse not to relax. From your happy, relaxed state, you can model real success, which is all that so many people in the world really want. . . .

I would further advise you not to take on other people's enemies. Most damage that others do to us is out of fear, humiliation and pain. . . . It is understood by all that you are commander in chief of the United States and are sworn to protect our beloved country; this we understand, completely.

However, as my mother used to say, quoting a Bible with which I often fought, "hate the sin, but love the sinner." There must be no more crushing of whole communities, no more torture, no more dehumanizing as a means of ruling a people's spirit. This has already happened to people of color, poor people, women, children.

A good model of how to "work with the enemy" internally is presented by the Dalai Lama, in his endless caretaking of his soul as he confronts the Chinese government that invaded Tibet. Because, finally, it is the soul that must be preserved, if one is to remain a credible leader. All else might be lost; but when the soul dies, the connection to earth, to peoples, to animals, to rivers, to mountain ranges, purple and majestic, also dies.

And your smile, with which we watch you do gracious battle with unjust characterizations, distortions and lies, is that expression of healthy self-worth, spirit and soul, that, kept happy and free and relaxed, can find an answering smile in all of us, lighting our way, and brightening the world.

-Alice Walker

http://compabutch.stumbleupon.com/review/26699798/

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 18:48:09 -0700

Martin Niem�ller Poem

They came for the Communists, and I

didn't object - For I wasn't

a Communist;

They came for the Socialists, and I

didn't object - For I wasn't a Socialist;

They came for the labor leaders, and I

didn't object - For I wasn't a labor leader;

They came for the Jews, and I didn't

object - For I wasn't a Jew;

Then they came for me -

And there was no one left to object.

Martin Niemoller, German Protestant Pastor,

1892-1984

http://compabutch.stumbleupon.com/review/26641639/

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 05:09:53 -0700

The GOP still think they have a winner with the plumber. Can't they see that stuff is insulting to working people? I think they are confusing the kind of Bush supporters who yell "Obama is a Socialist" at their rallies, with all the rest of the avarage people out there. They only have to look at the size of that crowd in St. Louis to see what "the average" people are thinking. It is time for Obama to slow down and relax, and let McCain do his campaigning for him. I have enough faith in the Republicans' stupidity, that if you stand back and give them enough room, they will shoot themselves in the other foot. Maybe McCain should promise everyone more bank bailouts?