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Collected Poetry
VOLUME NINETEEN 
Original materials - Copyright © 2023-24 by Gary Bachlund All international rights reserved
"Political events move from one impasse to the next, like a torrent caught in gullies, creeks, and marshes. All human control comes to an end when the individual is caught in a mass movement. Then the archetypes begin to function, as happens also in the lives of individuals when they are confronted with situations that cannot be dealt with in any of the familiar ways." In "Civilization in Transition," C.G. Jung, trans. R. F. C. Hull, Princeton University Press, 1964.
I'm from off, so I've been told
I'm from off, so I've been told,
as I am not from here.
Yes I am, and from somewhere else,
depending on which year.
I got here about just as fastas just I really could,
Given that I had no plan,
or one time had withstood.
I'm from off, so does it seem;
it might remain this way,
Until somewhere else next will call
to carry me off -- away.
Old Joe and his kin are gone insane
"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; Because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to Me; Seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I also will forget thy children." Hosea, 4:6.
Old Joe and kin are gone insane;
Whatever shall they do?
They rage and rail in words inane
To a press that serves their stew.A suspicious world is strolling off,
Ears closing to the screech.
A world away can smirk and scoff,
Far beyond insanity's reach.
Old Joe and kin are gone insane;
Whatever shall they do?
Time will tell with words quite plain
Not found in a headline's view.A weary world is learning well,
Steered clear of those who've sinned.
A world away turns more away,
Far from Joe's spun whirlwind.
Look behind those walls of words
"The point of a free media is to challenge authority, especially massive incursions on human rights, but many of us became cheerleaders for the health bureaucracy and politicians, assuming all were faithfully acting in the public interest. It’s well established that the global financial crisis was the product in large part of the capture of financial regulators by powerful banking interests, leading to far lower levels of capitalisation than socially desirable. Why would the same forces not be at work in medicine, where the biggest pharmaceutical companies, who stood to gain billions of dollars in profit from vaccine mandates, exerted huge influence over regulators, which they themselves fund?" In "Media Is to Blame for Covid Vaccines’ Wall of Infallibility," by Adam Creighton, Brownstone, 4 April 2023.
Look behind those walls of words.
There's fluff and bluff each undergirds.
Mighty in their seeming strength
Solely for their width and length,
But paper-thin the papered prose
As one peers behind and knows
Walls of words lie vain and flat,
Each papered tiger a pussycat.
Walls protect bureaucracies
By fending off one's liberties.
Peer behind the walls of words.
There's fluff and bluff each undergirds.
Addendum from a Democrat: "Medical gaslighting, coupled with the absence of legal recourse or adequate compensation, compounds the challenges we endure. When I reach out for help, my pleas often fall on deaf ears, or I am disparaged as a misinformed 'anti-vaxxer'." In "The medical community must stop gaslighting COVID vaccine victims like me," by Shaun Barcavage, The Hill, 14 July 2024.
Addendum of Unlocking: "The vaccination-related mortality rate stands at approximately 3 % of those who received the vaccine, with the majority of cases occurring among individuals under the age of 60, who were not hospitalized and had received their initial vaccine dose." In "Evaluation of the effects of MERCK, MODERNA, PFIZER/BioNTech, and JANSSEN COVID-19 vaccines on vaccinated people: A metadata analysis," by Nadia Al-Rousan and Hazem Al-Najjar, om "Informatics in Medicine Unlocked," Volume 49, 2024, 101564.
“Tricks and treachery are the practice of fools that don’t have brains enough to be honest.” Benjamin Franklin
Always question everything;
Lies despise such thought.
The con men and the liars
And the media they've bought,
The manufactured outrage,
And nudging's loud onslaught,
For such as these time teaches well
Of cons and lies' juggernaut.
Always question everything.
And again, for emphasis -- “Tricks and treachery are the practice of fools that don’t have brains enough to be honest.” Benjamin Franklin
You'll get your jolly big slice
of delicious pie in the sky.
The unicorns shall deliver it
In their sweet by-and-by.
Stir your imagination
In order to amplify
The size of your big jolly slice
of imagined pie in the sky.
The recipe is all political,
on which the folk rely,
And after baking carefully
There's nothing to verify
That you'll get your tasty slice
of that fictitious, fabled pie.
Addendum of California Reparations: "One day, America’s black citizens will realize that Democrats always make promises they will not or cannot fulfill. The latest example is the reparations folly currently playing out in California. Black Californians are beginning to realize they were watching Kabuki reparations theater." In "California Dems sowed the reparations wind and are reaping the whirlwind," by Andrea Widburg, American Thinker, 14 May 2023.
Addendum of German Anti-worker Unions: "...workers can only defend their wages if they free themselves from the straitjacket of the unions and set up independent action committees functioning as genuine organs of struggle, controlled by workers, capable of taking strikes into their own hands...." In "German pseudo-left groups defend union’s wage cut for public service workers," by Christoph Vandreier, World Socialist Web Site, 14 May 2023.
A rose is a rose is a rose,
And an is is an is that is.
A rose arose, as being is,
As most every being knows.
Serve a plate of trend du jour
Serve a plate of trend du jour,
for what else is there in the sewer?
Be for this, then be for that,
no body shamed for gorging fat.
No repugnance at another thing
with which you simply cannot swing.
No judgment yet for what is said
in headlines, all with judgment fed.
Serve a dish of tomorrow's soup,
assured to be excrement-salted poop.
Child's play / in the City by the Bay
" 'The contamination is ... much greater than communities in Brazil or Kenya or India,' says Riley, who researched health conditions caused by extreme poverty in some of the world's poorest regions." In "San Francisco Squalor: City Streets Strewn With Trash, Needles And Human Feces," by Samantha Raphelson, NPR, 1 August 2018.
One little druggie strolls Market.
Two little druggies snort coke.
Three little druggies jab needles.
Drugs keep many more broke.
And each little druggie goes....
... wee, wee, wee all the way down.
Addendum: "The city and its partners, like the AIDS Foundation, collect around 275,000 used syringes each month, about 8,000 of which come from on-the-ground sweeps like the one the new AIDS Foundation team will be conducting, said Joe Hollendoner, the foundation’s CEO. Needles are also collected from syringe-disposal boxes located in areas where drug use is prevalent. 'No needles on the streets — that’s our goal,' Garcia said." In "SF to get team dedicated to clearing used needles from city’s streets," by Dominic Fracassa, San Francisco Chronicle, 23 April 2018.
Addendum: "How dirty is San Francisco? An NBC Bay Area Investigation reveals a dangerous mix of drug needles, garbage, and feces throughout downtown San Francisco. The Investigative Unit surveyed 153 blocks of the city – the more than 20-mile stretch includes popular tourist spots like Union Square and major hotel chains. The area – bordered by Van Ness Avenue, Market Street, Post Street and Grant Avenue – is also home to City Hall, schools, playgrounds, and a police station. 'We see poop, we see pee, we see needles, and we see trash,' said teacher Adelita Orellana. 'Sometimes they ask what is it, and that’s a conversation that’s a little difficult to have with a 2-year old, but we just let them know that those things are full of germs, that they are dangerous, and they should never be touched'." In "Survey of Downtown San Francisco Reveals Trash on Every Block, 303 Piles of Feces and 100 Drug Needles," by Bigad Shaban, Robert Campos, Tony Rutanooshedech and and Michael Horn, NBC Bay Area, 6 December 2018.
Let's all define all our terms
Let's all define all our terms
Until the cows come home.
Let's chatter on incessantly
And fill an empty tome.
Let's shutter all the barn doors
Though the livestock has run off,
Because we know how right we are
Though left as others scoff.
Let's protest counter-protests
To protest that other folks
Don't vote for what we'd vote for,
But think our views are jokes,
Let's rage against the raging
And hate all those who hate.
Such is our lofty righteousness
With virtue quite irate.
Musical chairs -- the game to play.
Musical chairs -- it's underway.
Musical chairs -- someone loses today.
Musical chairs -- there's one less seat.
Musical chairs -- much seems so much less upbeat.
Musical chairs -- all must compete, bittersweet.
Musical chairs -- and most will lose.
Musical chairs -- who'll cry their blues.
Musical chairs -- ah, the question's whose....
Seem's nice, but I'm not doin' that
Seem's nice, but I'm not doin' that.
Go find some other pliant sap.
Once burned, twice shy; that's where it's at,
No interest in the well-laid trap.
The emptor's read each caveat,
And so, for this, I shall recap:
Seem's nice, but I'm not doin' that.
Go find some other trusting sap.
The warming now is cooling and the global's local now;
A man can change to woman, like a barrow turns to sow.
Safe is not effective, and effective's proven bull,
As of the headlines' hollering, one has a belly full.
Democracy must be saved by cheating at the polls;
Lies are big, then bigger. Loud bang the begging bowls.
Rage is all the fashion now, and all have megaphones,
To scream past one another, and amplify the groans.
Walk away is fine advice, as fists are clenched and raised.
All the world's a stage, starring players that are crazed.
Storm the barricades, or barricade 'gainst storms.
Run with all stampedes and join those festive swarms.
Express your individuality by copying your chum,
And live in comfy mansions, but like as if a bum.
Trendy was and is and will be the fad next in line,
So hop onto each bandwagon, as if some sacred shrine.
Time will pass, to count your costs, deducting as it will,
For sure it is, time passing, you'll pay the final bill.Addendum of Running up a Tab: "Historian Niall Ferguson recently invoked what he calls his own personal law of history: “Any great power that spends more on debt service (interest payments on the national debt) than on defense will not stay great for very long. True of Habsburg Spain, true of ancien régime France, true of the Ottoman Empire, true of the British Empire, this law is about to be put to the test by the U.S. beginning this very year.” Indeed, the Congressional Budget Office projects that, in part because of rising interest rates, the federal government will spend $892 billion during the current fiscal year for interest payments on the accumulated national debt of $28 trillion—meaning that interest payments now surpass the amount spent on defense and nearly match spending on Medicare." In "Will Debt Sink the American Empire?" by Gerald F. Seib, Wall Street Journal, 21 June 2024.
Consider the truth about Sam? - the Debtor Man
Robespierre, the guillotine blade, Louis and Marie Antoinette
In the Place de la Concorde,
a revolution lost its head.
That, after another had been
toppled by it instead.
Cycles come and cycles go,
as run places bloody red.
Such was it in the past;
that cyclic future lies ahead.
Addendum of the Coda: Of 10 Thermidor, Year II -- 28 July 1794 -- the article notes "Following his [ Robespierre's ] beheading, the crowd erupted in applause and jubilant cries, which reportedly endured for fifteen minutes."
A rhyme for members of the Democrat Party
Someone else's money is needed night and day,
In races where the losers are also called to pay.
Winners, losers, party chaps, all quite straightaway
Look for someone else to always and ever say,
"Money is the mother's milk of politics" today,
As it was in days gone by, in good old yesterday.
Addendum for Jamal the Democrat: $1.3 million in TV ads buys and digital advertising in June, FEC records show. Bowman [ a Democrat ] spent more than $5.3 million on the race while Latimer’s campaign ; a Democrat challenger ] dropped more than $5.6 million." In "Ousted NY Rep. Jamaal Bowman now begging for cash to pay off campaign debts," by Jon Levine, NY Post, 17 August 2024.
Addendum of Jesse the Democrat: "On campaign contributions: 'Money is the mother's milk of politics.' 1966 On lobbyists: 'If you can't eat their food, drink their booze, screw their women and then vote against them you've got no business being up here.' Other versions exist, for instance 'If you can't eat their food, drink their booze, screw their women, take their money and then vote against them, you have no business being up here'." In "Jesse M. Unruh [ Democrat ]," Wikipedia article, n. d.
Addendum of Bloodletting and Fun: "We head to Chicago on a wave of euphoria, exuberance, exultation, excitement and even, you might say, ecstasy. It’s going to be a glorious coronation — except that everyone’s mad at one another. Top Democrats are bristling with resentments even as they are about to try to put on a united front at the United Center in the Windy City. A coterie of powerful Democrats maneuvered behind the scenes to push an incumbent president out of the race." In "After Biden Bloodletting, Dems Just Want to Have Fun!" by Maureen Dowd, New York Times, 17 August 2024.
Addendum of Robert. no longer a Democrat: : "As you know, I left that party in October because it had departed so dramatically from the core values that I grew up with. It had become the party of war, censorship, corruption, big pharma, big tech, big ag, and big money. When it abandoned democracy by canceling the primary to conceal the cognitive decline of the sitting president, I left the party to run as an independent.' From a statement by Robert F. Kennedy Jr, 23 August 2024.
Addendum of Democrats' Surveillance of another Democrat: "Former Democratic Congresswoman and presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard confirmed that she continues to be under surveillance by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) under their controversial 'Quiet Skies' program on Sunday, August 25." In "What is 'Quiet Skies'? Tulsi Gabbard says she's under TSA surveillance for bashing federal administration," by Debapriya Bhattacharya, MEAWW, 25 August 2024.
Addendum of another Democrat Leaving the Party: "I’ve been a true-blue Democrat, a former California state senator who chaired its Senate Democratic Caucus and served as Senate Majority Leader. I was a Democratic National Convention delegate for Jesse Jackson and Barack Obama, and state co-chair for President Obama’s re-election. But I’ve said goodbye, adios, I’ve had enough. This is not the Democratic Party I once championed. I don’t recognize it anymore." In "I’m a true-blue Democrat — but I’ve joined the GOP and back Donald Trump," by Gloria Romero, NY Post, 13 September 2024.
To keep things 'party' consistent, see: Three Little Democrats
For clarity: Politics
Confess your Lord Climate Change
Pray Bezos and Amen.
Confess your Lord Climate Change.
Pray its Spirit coughs up Cash.
For in all things temporally,
After Cash such men do dash.
Believe your Saving Climate Change,
And Pray all join with you
In finding Funding, funding findings
The Secular declare as True.
Confess, Believe and Pray each day
To change the hearts of men
To open wide their Wallets
As is ever the Changing Plan.Amen.
Addendum of Omission: "Indonesia is 87% Muslim." In "Francis Prays to Some Kind of Allah, Omits Trinity and Sign of the Cross," Gloria TV en.news, 4 September 2024.
Addendum of Relativism: "There is only one God and each of us has a language to arrive at God. Sikh, Muslim, Hindu, Christian, they are different paths." In "Pope Francis: ‘Every religion is a way to arrive at God’," by Michael Haynes, LifeSite News, 13 September 2024.
