Templates and Overlays

Layover. Layaway. Lei. Eeeek. Eel. Cutouts of pop culture floating down from the clouds like little ice crystal patterns, clumps and flakes piling up, wintering the ground, making a plastic-bristled push broom a useless snow shovel in a Day After the Day After Tomorrow scenario. An automobile horn playing a one-note señorita's sonato in dee dead of freezing cold.

2009 - The Year of the Man with African-American heritage.
2010 - The Year of the Woman, gender the lyrics and harmony this stanza.

And in a continental shift, the hesitation as pols (that's right, not polls or Poles) poll the people to see if their attempt at polarising the lens through which they tell the people what they're supposed to want has been polished properly.

Media seek mediums to see the future - another thinktank expert in the field of thinktank expert analysis experts. Throw more wood on the fire - we need to pump up the smoke and bring out the dogs and ponies for the one-way mirror show.

I like carnival sideshows - the bearded lady, the world's largest rodent/snake crossover breed, the boy with no face, the politicians powdering their faces for their self-effacing airtime promoting yet another promising compromise.

Without variety, what would allspice taste like?

If few of us want to take the time to read a 1000-page stack of legalese-at-ease-soldiers, with all the "heretofore when the least amount is deducted from line 47 of page 23 totaled in line 23 of page 47 wherein the previous page was deleted, pushing all page numbers forward 10 because of the addition of 47 pages from which 38 pages were reviewed and 56 pages were therefore deleted; that is, until the review on the 29th of December referencing the planned budgetary meeting on the 5th of January that will recompute all totals and estimates prior to the constraints enacted on the 13th of November, with the following pages to be deleted/ remanded/ added," etc., then what are we to do? When does a political compromise comprise a constituent's idea that all is bribes and the rest lies?

Entertainment. That's all we need to know. The rest is details. Isn't that what I've been trying to tell myself?

If you want the assets of a foreign country for yourself, consult the Book (no, not that one), "The Art of Warfarin." Unclog those arteries! Clear the way for fresh blood to arrive on the scene.

We are one species. We only think our nation's politicians act solely on our behalf. The other half percent of us know that a legislative body is not an island. It may act on its own initiative, taking its turn to lead the way, but it never owns the stage, lights and cameras. Action! Smile for your local online webzine or newsernet. Look serious about the deal you just closed which ensures your comfortable retirement and a few pork barrels parked on the side of the road bearing your name.

The same water particles falling from the sky when someone said what I said above about six thousand years before someone said it forty thousand years ago.

"Ugh. That fruit tree belongs to my family. We found it first."

"Grunt. No it doesn't. I represent a consortium of families tired of waiting for your family to eat first. I am claiming this tree for them and offering you the vast unknown stretches of land to the north where we will not touch any of your trees for...say, the next ten cycles of the moon."

"Ten cycles? Not enough. We will let you have this tree for twenty cycles. And if we do not find any fruit trees in our new land we will come back and take this land, adding it to the new land holdings you granted us."

"Twelve cycles. That's my final offer."

"Fifteen."

"It's yours, if you'll give us your oldest son and daughter."

"Ugh. I will give you only one."

"Then we'll take your son because he's the best fruit sack bearer in your group."

"Good, we'll keep our daughter who is best fruit picker in our group. See you in ten cycles."

"You said fifteen."

"You said twelve."

"Grunt. Twelve it is, then."

"We will be back in ten cycles to make sure you hold up your end of the bargain."

"Twelve."

"Okay, we will come back in just over ten cycles. No fruit and we get our son back."

"Eleven."

"Ten and you keep our son."

"Ten it is, then."

"Ten, and we'll get our son back."

"No, you get fruit sack only."

"Ten and we get son, tree and fruit sack, or we'll come back in five moon cycles."

"Okay, deal is done."

"Ugh. Seven moon cycles, we'll come back and we get your oldest son and daughter."

"Now, wait a minute!"

"You no want deal, we stay here."

"Umm...I come back tomorrow after I explain deal to the people."

"You come back tomorrow with proof of more fruit trees in the north or the deal is off when we return in three moon cycles."


And so it goes. A deal is no deal. It is a reference point for the next round of negotiations. Same for the so-called universal health care coverage legislation winding its way through the deals and no deals winding their way through no deals and deals. But I already know all this. What I'm supposed to tell you is what the Book of the Future from the last billion-dollar book/movie/blog/game deal I negotiated with the publishers says about what happens when the two houses merge their versions.

Welcome to the house divided. While conservatives form their temporary party to make themselves feel warm and fuzzy about voicing their displeasure over the pain they felt in the economic slump which they so easily blamed on anyone not wearing a conservative suit of crusader's armour, the liberals will feel smug that they are getting at least part of what they were promised when they hoisted a flag of unity over the shack of a Hawaiian politico. In the meantime, foreign entities will continue to accumulate debt repayment promises and laugh all the way to the bank, joining arms and singing, "Divide and conquer, divide and conquer, Houston has a problem, the eagle has landed, its feet spread across an unjoinable divide."

In a moment like this, I want to hear Will Rogers and Ashleigh Brilliant hold a tea party debate over whether John Cena or Arnold Schwarzenegger would make a better reporter for Fox News' coverage of eliminating the threat of malaria in Africa while recovering all the money stolen by the Iranian theocrat who's buried billions of dollars in "friendly" countries. And you wonder why my long-term bets are placed in overseas accounts in China and Israel, lined up with the way things are going in Mexico's drug trade with the United States.

I'm just this guy who loves my seven billion fellows so much that I'm willing to let them sort out how they want to live with each other. If you want to fight, fight. If you want to feed the poor, feed the poor. Any one of us can do anything s/he wants. At the end of the day, some of you will be with me and see we need to get our species out of this chicken egg basket. The rest of you I leave to your own devices, no matter what they are and what you want to do with them. However, your future is my future so I'm going to keep watching what you're doing - even if I don't do anything about your actions right away, I'm paying attention to when your actions may be useful to me later on. I don't care about who you are, where you came from or what you call your family background - you are a person, with immense value that you aren't aware of. Experiment with your life and one day we may meet when you've figured out what you're really worth to yourself. Look at Julia or Shannon Eileen or anyone else who's put self (not selfishness) first. Value yourself in the moment and the moment is yours. The moment is mine. The moment is ours. The moment is all.